


Starships are the best way to see the Moon

by upsetslingshot



Series: NATM!Star Wars AU [1]
Category: Night at the Museum (Movies), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, And I would like to thank Wookieepedia, Aromantic Character, Asexual Aromantic Ahkmenrah, Asexual Character, Asexual Jedediah, Canon-Typical Violence, Dexter is a droid, Gen, Nobody is really a Jedi, Pretty much everyone else is bi or pan, Rexy is a starship, The Dark Side of the Force, You helped me actually find out which planets I can make stuff up about
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2018-11-29 22:17:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 37,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11450181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/upsetslingshot/pseuds/upsetslingshot
Summary: Prince Ahkmenrah has made a daring escape from his home planet of Azameen. He has fled the system and is on the lookout for anyway he can become a Jedi.Meanwhile, Larry Daley has taken the job of co-pilot to the courier Jedediah Smith. Along the way they make friends with Mayor Teddy Roosevelt, his bodyguard Attila and the Force Sensitive Sacajawea.Little do they know that dark forces are spreading throughout the galaxy, with every bounty hunter in the galaxy looking for Prince Ahkmenrah.Now there's not long left until the Dark Side of the Force catches up with them, and there is no Jedi there to save them...





	1. A Daring Escape

**Author's Note:**

> So I made a Night at the Museum!Star Wars AU plot. Then I accidentally wrote a first chapter. Look at me go.  
> I've never actually used this website before so I hope I haven't like messed up how to use this website  
> More characters will be added in different parts of the series (it's set to be a trilogy)  
> Enjoy my Star Wars AU guys.

Sneaking out of the castle at night was one thing, but sneaking into the hanger bay was another. It was well guarded and teeming with technicians and droids inside. Ahkmenrah knew that the more time he spent in the hanger; the more unlikely it was that he’d be able to escape. But he knew what he was doing, he had finalised the plan long ago. Prepare the ship earlier that day, get in at night, sneak into the security room, automatically open the hanger doors, flee the security room and run to his ship whilst everyone was distracted with the hanger doors. Of course he’d need to be quick; the hanger doors would only be open for a limited time after all.

Ahk hurried through the shadows, flinching at any sound. If he was caught now, leaving with a bag packed full of stolen things, he knew the punishment would be severe. Ahk made it to an entrance to the hanger and paused, calming himself as he watched the security guards standing just outside. They held blaster rifles. There was only two of them but Ahk knew that even if one went to check out a distraction, the other would stay in place. Ahk mulled over his possibilities. He could create a distraction then knock the remaining guard unconscious. But when the first guard returned, even if Ahk moved the body, the alarm would go up and he’d be caught. He could try and knock both of them unconscious but it was likely one of them would fire, alerting others, the alarm would go off and he’d be caught. He could try and mind trick them, but Ahk doubted he would be able to do both, so one would sound the alarm and he’d be caught. Ahk knew he had to make his choice quickly and ended up deciding to a little of two of them.

Ahk turned to look at the bush just in front of the guards, he then lifted his hand and jabbed. The bush rustled just as he’d hoped. The two guards glanced at each other then one of them walked forwards. As he came to the bush Ahk did the same to another bush deeper in the trees. The guard raised his rifle slightly and walked further. Ahk then turned to the bush besides him and did it again. The guard turned and followed the sound. Ahk stood up, hiding behind the tree and waited until the guard was only few feet away from him. He then breathed deeply to steady himself and spoke.

“You will forget you ever saw me.”

The guard turned quickly and raised his rifle. Ahk raised his hand and tried again.

“You will forget you ever saw me.”

The guard’s rifle dropped slightly. “I will forget I ever saw you.”

“You will tell your friend to come away from the door.”

“I will tell my friend to come away from the door.”

“You will take your friend to the trees and tell them to look to see something.”

“I will take my friend to the trees and tell them to look to see something.”

“You will do it now.”

“I will do it now.”

With that the guard turned and started to move back towards the hanger. Ahk hurried along, skirting around the trees until he came to the side of the door. He watched the guard go to his friend and tell them to come and see something. The two left the door only a few feet to peer into the trees. This was all Ahk needed. He reached out and opened the door. Then he left his hiding spot and, silently, raced to the door. He slipped inside and closed it after him. Now he was in the hanger.  
Ahk sneaked through the halls, listening to the sound of the hum of machinery, the chatter of far-off guards and the sound of his own heart racing. Every step he took brought him fear. That he’d run into a guard, a technician, a droid, anyone who would give him away. The guards outside of the castle were worse than inside. Inside, the guards never used blasters if they found him, knocked him out, yes for sure, but never actually shot him. Outside though, these guards would have no hesitation with putting a few blast marks on him before handing him back over to the castle.

Ahk already knew which ship he was going to steal. It was small freighter, contained a hyperdrive and most importantly, the closest to the hanger doors. Ahk had started to affectionately call it the Tablet. He had, earlier, removed any attachments to the ship so it would be ready to leave as soon as he got on board. But before he did that he needed to get the hanger doors open first.

There were security measures on the hanger doors, meaning that Ahk needed to get into the security room to open them automatically from there. He managed to make it down the corridor and into the hanger okay, but the actual hanger itself was filled with droids, anyone of them could set off the alarm and he’d be caught. Ahk ducked behind the wing of a starfighter and slipped into the shadows of space barge. Ahk pressed himself into the side of the barge as a droid went trundling past. Once it left Ahk glances around then bolted half way across the hanger, sliding under another starfighter. He froze as not only a droid but a technician appeared, making their way over to the starfighter.

“This one needs to go in for repairs too.” Ahk heard the technician say. The droid beeped in response.

“Yeah, same fault as the others.” Said the technician.

The droid shrivelled its head and Ahk became uncomfortably unaware that if the droid moved only slightly to the left and looked under the wing, it would directly see Ahk. Ahk didn’t dare move as the droid looked at the starfighter.

“Okay, let’s go and catalogue the others.” Said the technician. The droid beeped again and turned around. The technician and the droid left and Ahk let out the breath he had been holding. All Ahk needed to do now was climb the stairs and into the security room. He hoped it was empty.

Ahk slid from underneath the wing and hurried to the stairs. He climbed them quickly and peered through the window into the security room. No such luck of it being empty. There was one man sat at the computer. Ahk decided to try the mind trick again and opened the door. Before the man could turn around at the noise, Ahk ducked under the table and started to focus.

“You will leave the computers unlocked.” Ahk said, waving his hand in the man’s general direction.

“I will leave the computers unlocked.” The man muttered back.

“You will leave and go drinking.”

“I will leave and go drinking.” Said the man, as he, in a haze, wandered out the room.

Once he was sure the coast was clear Ahk got out from under the table and moved over to the computers. There he imputed some code and brought up the options for the hanger doors. That was when it happened.

A loud klaxon went off; vibrating even the floor Ahk was standing on. His heart skipped a beat, or maybe two or three. The castle had found out that Ahk was gone, and it was soon going to be all too obvious where he was. Ahk slammed the option to open the hanger doors and a shot came through the window. Ahk threw his arms up to shield himself from the glass which had broken; he could hear the guards shouting. He needed to get out of here now.  
He reached out with his hand and motioned for the table to hover then slam into the window. The remaining panes broke and Ahk climbed on top of the worktop. The door slammed open as the guards entered. But before they could aim, Ahk had leapt from the window and landed on top of a ship. He could see his freighter across the hanger and prepared to jump again. Blaster shots rang out. Several narrowly missed Ahk. He jumped again, landing on another ship. The guards shot at him again. He could feel the heat of the blasters. He jumped again and he was almost there. There were more shots and Ahk made one more final jump. He landed in front of his freighter and ran up to its doors. He opened them but threw himself back as more blasts came dangerously close to his head. The hanger doors had fully opened now and Ahk had to leave now, any second they would start to close.

Ahk lodged himself in the shelter of the ship, wishing more than anything he had a lightsaber. The door was right there, but the guards had pinned him down easily. They shot again. The blaster marks chipped away part of the ship and Ahk again covered his face to shield himself from the worst. His arms weren’t so lucky and took the force of the debris. Little deep scratches formed and Ahk had to get out of here. The guards shot again and Ahk suddenly dived. He fell into the ship and raised his hand. The blasts stopped mid air, just long enough for Ahk to close the door. He ran to the cockpit and with a sudden horrified lurch, realised that the hanger doors were closing. He started the ship and lifted off. The ship rocketed forwards. He aimed for closing gap and only barely made it. Ahk breathed out a ragged sighed and went to ascend. Glancing down to his horror he saw the red glow of a lightsaber. His brother, Kahmunrah was stood by the side of the hanger, watching the ship ascend. Kah raised his hand and the ship juddered. Ahk let out a scream and pushed the ship as much as he could, both at the controls and with the Force. Ahk looked down at Kah again and even though he logically knew he was too far away to see them, Ahk was sure he could see Kah’s yellow and red eyes. They felt like they were digging into him, calling him back to the Dark Side. Ahk looked away and back into space. He forced the ship again and somehow, incredibly, he managed to break free from his brother’s grip. The freighter shot off and Ahk ascended away from the planet’s surface. As Ahk finally, finally, made it to space he sensed fighter ships making it too.

The fighters shot at the ship. Ahk lurched and twisted the controls. The ship span. The fighters flew up beside him and Ahk span again. He never had been that good of a pilot, but he could spin. If there was one thing Ahk was good at it was spinning. And spin he shall. He sped up and spun again. Not for the first time Ahk wishes he had an astromech with him. Then he might actually be able to fight back. One of the fighters fell back, unwilling to come close to Ahk’s unstable and erratic flight. Ahk spun again, narrowly dodging the closest fighter’s laser fire. Ahk spun again, this time being left facing the planet. Ahk took one look at Azameen, his home planet, before turning the ship around and setting a randomised emergence course for his jump to lightspeed. He activated the hyperdrive and entered hyperspace, leaving everything he had ever known behind.

* * *

Larry Daley needed a job. He quite badly needed a job. He had gone through a lot of different jobs in the past few months. None of them worked out though. And now here he was, sitting in a cafe, opposite his friend Rebecca, drinking coffee and moping about it. Coffee which Rebecca paid for even.

“You could try at my museum again.” Suggested Rebecca.

“No, your director and I didn’t... quite get along the last time we met.” Larry said, slouching down in his seat.

“Oh yeah, I forgot.” Rebecca took a sip of her coffee.

“I swear I’ve tried everywhere about 50 times.” Larry muttered, slumping further down in his chair. “I guess I’ll have to check them all again. Either that or I’ll just give up and go live in the Underworld. I’m sure one of the crime bosses would hire me for something.”

Rebecca smiled sympathetically. “Go try the docking bays, they change all the time. Perhaps try 51 will actually give you something.”

“Thank, Rebecca.” Larry said, smiling weakly.

Later, once the two of them had finished their coffees, they left the cafe. They parted ways, with Rebecca going home and Larry making his way to the local docking bay.  
The bay was hectic, as it always was. Larry travelled down the bay to the offices at the far side. There he asked what he always asked. “Is there any jobs going? What about in this sector? I don’t really care, the job could be replacing a droid, I’ll do it.” But still, no such luck. The sun had set and the offices were starting to close by the time Larry decided to give up. He walked back up the bay and was about to leave when a man walked in front of him, causing him to come to a sudden stop.  
The man pushed by past Larry and left, shouting insults over his shoulder as he did so. Larry glanced over to where he came from to see a man standing by the doors of a freighter shouting back.

“Well fine then, see if I care. You weren’t even a good co-pilot anyway! You’re easily replaceable you know!”

Now, Larry really knew two things not to go for in his search for a job. One was to not go off-world, he had a young son and that would mean he would barely ever get to see him. The second was to go to a job you had just witnessed come about due to a fight. Regardless, full of desperation and self-pity, Larry found himself walking over to the man by the freighter. The man in question was wearing a large-brimmed hat and a poncho. He had turned away and was now staring at his ship. Larry couldn’t see his face but he could see blonde waves of hair sticking out from under his hat. Larry put on a smile and moved next to the man.

“Hi.” Said Larry brightly. “I couldn’t help overhear that you need a new co-pilot.”

The man jumped as Larry spoke. Then he turned to look at Larry and scowled. “Easy enough thing to overhear.”

“I’m Larry, Larry Daley.” Larry said, extending his hand towards the man.

The man took his hand and shook. “Jedediah Smith.”

“So, Jedediah,” Larry said, letting go. “You need a co-pilot.”

“And what makes you think I would just take anybody off the street?” Jedediah said. He folded his arms and glared at Larry.

“I use to do a lot of piloting a few years back. I have documents proving this.” Larry replied.

“Why did you stop piloting?” Jedediah asked.

“I had to stop when I had a son, but I still have all the skills ready to use again. I really need a job so I am willing to go off-world again.” Larry said.

“Just how long ago were you a pilot, Larry?”

“Deep space piloting? I stopped about 11 years ago, but I was very good at it. People use to call me a giant in the piloting world.” Said Larry.  
That cracked Jedediah up. “Giant, oh really?” He laughed and Larry felt his confidence shoot up.  
“But between then I also did some on-world piloting,” Larry continued over the quieting sound of Jedediah’s laughter. “I was a pilot for an air taxi for a few years so it’s not like I’ve completely left my skills to rust.”

Jedediah turned to look back at his ship, still grinning. “Don’t you even wanna know what I do, Gigantor?”

Larry raised an eyebrow at the nickname but didn’t push it. “Is it legal, Jed?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I honestly don’t really care.”

“I’m a courier so I travel all around the galaxy. You said you have a son, I can’t guarantee you would be able to see him all too often.” Jedediah said.

“Well, what else they got holograms for.” Larry said. “How well do this job pay?”

“As much as the person giving you the package pays.” Said Jedediah. “No, I do put commission prices on it. How big the package is, how far away the location is. Although a lot of  
the money we get is spent on maintaining the ship and buying supplies, you will get wages out of it though. And people pay me upfront; I have developed a reputation across the galaxy for delivering.” He turned back to Larry, beaming. “I’ll get your items across the galaxy will time left to spare. Occasionally the customers even give me extra.”

“That sounds great!” Larry said. “When could I start?”

“Ahhh, trial start, Gigantor, trial start. I need to see if you can actually pilot this ship before taking you on for real.”

“Okay when could I trial start?”

Jedediah thought for a moment. I have a package I need to deliver to Alderaan, but I need to pick up my astromech from repairs before I go. Tell you what. Be here tomorrow morning, 11AM. That’s when I can set off. I’ll need to see your documents before we head off though.”

“Okay, no problem. I’ll dig them up for you.”

“And you’ll need to pack some supplies; we’ll be away for a few days.”

“So, tomorrow morning, 11AM, this bay, this time, bring my documents.” Larry confirmed.

“That good for you, Gigantor? We’ll be returning to Coruscant for a few days too, after the deliver.”

“Yeah!” Larry broke into a smile. “That’s great, Jed!”

* * *

 After that successful meeting, Larry returned home and almost fell asleep as soon as he got in. He didn’t though. Instead he threw together some things into a backpack, so it would be ready for tomorrow. Then he had to go and actually dig out his documents. This seemed to take forever. They ended up being buried deep in wardrobe, covered with boxed. Many of which were filled with things he didn’t even remember getting. Larry organised his documents and slotted them into the front of his backpack. Once he’d done that, he collapsed onto bed and quickly fell asleep.

It was 9:30 when he woke up. He rang Erika as he ate breakfast.

“I have a job.” He told her excitedly. He left out it was only a trial run.

“Oh, that’s great!” Erika said. “What doing?”

“Co-piloting on a courier ship.”

Erika fell silent for a second. “Oh that’s... You’ll be off-world a lot then, won’t you?”

“Yeah, I know Nicky isn’t going to like that. Could I talk to him?”

The other end went silent for a moment and suddenly Nick was on the other end. “Dad, you’ve got a job.”

“Yeah, well it’s got some catches-”

“A job piloting a spaceship, Dad, that’s so cool!”

“It is?”

“Yeah!” Nick said and Larry could tell he was grinning. “I wanna go into space!”

“So you won’t be upset that I won’t get to see you a lot?” Larry asked.

“Dad, hold on.” The other end went quiet again before the caller lit up and a small hologram of Nick appeared. “Dad, this is exactly what holograms were made for!”

“That’s exactly what I said.” Larry laughed. “I’ll be going to Alderaan first, then I don’t know, the guy who employed me said that we’d be returning to Coruscant after for a little while, so when I get back after a few days shall you and I hang out?”

“Can I see the ship you’ll be on?”

“Yeah, okay.”

Nick was smiling at that. “Can I see inside the ship?”

“If the guy says you can.”

“Can we go for a ride in the ship?”

“You’ll have to ask the guy about that too.”

“Can we go into space?”

“I can tell you right now the answer is no, Nicky.”

Nick booed at that and Larry laughed.

Later, Larry double checked he had all his documents and left his apartment at 10:40, backpack over his shoulder. He made his way to the docking bay with time left to spare. He walked over to the bay the ship was in and saw Jedediah. He was still wearing the hat but had ditched the poncho this time. He also had an astromech by his side. Larry could only assume was the astromech who was in for repairs the day earlier. Jedediah notices Larry and strolled up to him.

“You ready to go, Gigantor?” He asked.

“Yeah, locked my front door and everything.”

“Great, can I check over your documents before we head off?”

Larry took off his backpack and undid it. He handed the documents over to Jedediah so flipped through them. After a couple of minutes Jedediah handed them back over to Larry.

“They’re all in order, you weren’t kidding when you said you were a good pilot.”

Jedediah then grinned, turned and motioned to the ship. “This here is the Rex, the best ship in the galaxy. He can go anywhere and do it faster than any other ship out there.”

The astromech beeped and bumped into Jedediah’s leg. Jedediah grinned again and motioned to the astromech. “This is D8-T3, though he’s also called Dexter.”

“Hi, Dexter.” Larry said. Dexter beeped loudly in response. Dexter rolled up to Larry’s side crashed into his leg hard.

“Dexter is a bit of a trouble-maker but he’s still the best astromech around.” Jedediah said.

Dexter beeped again and rolled off, up the ramp and into the ship.

“So!” Jedediah said loudly, clapping his gloved hands together. He gave Larry his biggest smile. “Welcome to the trial run team!”


	2. A Smoking Wreck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having fled his home planet of Azameen, Prince Ahkmenrah is now stranded. With no one there to teach him he teaches himself in the ways of the Light Side of the Force.  
> Meanwhile the Rex has hit severe mechanical problems, ones which could spell doom for anybody on board.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I already have most of the chapters plotted out quite heavily, so hopefully I can keep updating this regularly. I already have about half of this chapter written when I posted the first chapter so I decided to finish it quickly and upload it.  
> Enjoy.

 

“You know, Jedediah, just once, could you actually try and not blast me into space?” Larry said as soon as he wrenched off his helmet.

 

“Aha, sorry about that, Gigantor.” Jed shouted from the cockpit.

 

Larry tugged off the rest of the space suit and Dexter beeped.

 

“Yes, thank you, Dexter, at least someone agrees with me.”

 

Jed came out from the cockpit and threw his poncho at Larry. “I got you back in the ship, didn’t I? Now accept the apology poncho and I’ll go and make you a drink.”

 

Larry pulled the poncho over his head and hung up the space suit. He and Jed had been working together for nearly a year now and, if Larry was being honest, he was an improvement for the ship. As soon as Jed had given him a permanent position, Larry had researched Jed’s previous deliveries. Larry had then worked out ways to make their deliveries better and swiftly started to administer them. Jed wasn’t lying when he said he was good at his job. He was very good. But there was always room for improvement. With Larry’s help the extra money Jed told him some clients gave him started to become most clients. Dexter had even beeped at Larry that the ship had never seen this much money constantly rolling in. Because of this, Larry had believed that perhaps they wouldn’t need to do emergency fixes in space like that anymore. How wrong he was.

 

Larry sat at the table in the living quarter and realised he was still holding the rope Jed had used to reel him back on board. He put it on the table just as Jed came back holding a steaming cup.

 

“If the apology poncho hasn’t worked, have an apology tea.” Jed said as he gave Larry the cup and sat down. “Sorry I almost got you lost in space.” He finished, grinning sheepishly.

 

Larry tried to scowl but he couldn’t keep it up for very long. “Okay, apology accepted, but you need to fix the suit.”

 

Jed saluted and stood up as Larry took a sip. “Will do as soon as we land. I’ve gotta go and set up the coordinates for hyperjump.” And with that he left.

 

Dexter beeped and rolled off.

 

“Yeah, don’t want to crash into a planet do we.” Larry muttered.

 

Larry sat drinking his tea until he felt the familiar jump to hyperspace. Then he got up and wandered over to the cockpit. “How long till we get there?”

 

“Not long, a couple of hours.” Jed responded.

 

“Want a game of Dejarik while we wait?” Larry asked.

 

“Yeah alright, but I’m gonna win, you do know that.”

 

Dexter beeped.

 

“What do you mean I’ve never won?” Spluttered Jed. “I’ve won before.” They returned to the living quarters and started a game of Dejarik.

 

As it happens, Larry won.

 

“Oh come on man, best of 3? 5?” Jed begged. Larry was going to respond when all of a sudden the ship lurched. The two of them went crashing to the floor. Dexter went flying across the room, screeching.

 

“What the- what was that?!” Larry gasped.

 

Jed was already on his feet, running to the cockpit.

 

“Something’s wrong!” Jed shouted. “Something’s wrong with the hyperdrive.” Larry picked himself up and ran to join Jed.

 

“What is it?”

 

“I don’t know I’m working on it!” Jed yelled over. “Dexter, plug in and help me out!” Dexter beeped and plugged himself in. “If we don’t fix the hyperdrive soon…”

 

“We’ll be blown in 100 different systems.” Larry finished. He started to input data into the computer while Jed pulled off part of the wall to check the internal sections of the ship.

 

“Jed. We’ve got another problem!” Larry shouted suddenly. “The hyperjump is rerouting itself.” Jed made a sound which sounded very much like he was being strangled. There was another lurch.

 

“Where are we going, Larry?” Jed asked.

 

“I don’t know, the numbers keep changing to fast!”

 

Dexter beeped in alarm and Jed looked out of the wires. “Not helpful, Dexter! What can we do to stop it?” Dexter beeped again and Jed growled, “oh forget it!” He then turned to the wires, selected one and tore it out, pulling several pieces of machinery with it.

 

The ship lurched once more and fell out of hyperspace. Larry picked himself up from over the computers. “What did you do?”

 

“I pulled out some of the connectors and power couplings to the hyperdrive.” Jed looked at the tangle of machinery in his hands. “There might have been some other parts which I think I shouldn’t have taken out though.”

 

Larry gritted his teeth and peered out the viewport. Then he paled. “I think we’ve got another problem.”

 

“What is it?” Jed asked, still examining the wires.

 

“There’s a planet, right in front of us. We’re heading directly towards it. Very fast.” Larry said. He dived for the controls and yanked them up. “The controls aren’t responding.”

 

Jed glanced down at the wires in his hand, dropped them and leapt to the controls. They were dive-bombing the planet. Every passing second brought them closer to the surface. “Dexter re-route power to the controls!” Dexter beeped again and connected to the computer. Any remaining power diverted to the controls and, though a combined effort of Larry and Jed, the Rex raised its attitude. It wasn’t enough though. There wasn’t any time left to try and thing else.

 

“We’re gonna crash.” Jed said weakly, looking over the planet. “Assume crash positions! Dexter, brake us as much as you can.” Dexter beeped and the Rex started to slow down. Barely though, as the ship still hurtled through the sky and over a vast jungle at what seemed like lightspeed.  The top of the trees started to crash onto the bottom of the Rex, sending the ship veering. The Rex slammed into the tree trunks, completely destroying them as it passed. Then the Rex hit the ground for the first time. The Rex ploughed through the ground, tearing up the roots of the trees and leaving a trail of its destruction in its wake. The Rex eventually fell to a stop. It creaked and hissed, smoke started to rise from its structure. However, inside, its crewmembers did not move.

* * *

 Ahkmenrah was not having a good day. Not only had he been caught out during a rainstorm, he also accidentally stumbled onto a kouhun. It had crawled very close past Ahk and to say Ahk nearly had a heart attack was an understatement. He had been trapped on the planet Indoumodo for nearly a year and had acclimatised to the planet the best he could. He didn’t know where this planet was, he didn’t know if it was populated, he didn’t know anything about it. He only had time to read the planet name on his computer before it shut off as he crashed onto the planet’s surface once he came out of hyperspace. He had been living in the husk of the ship since then. He had tried to fix the ship, but he was no engineer, he didn’t really know what to do. So he had to leave it. Once he tried to venture off into the jungle to see if he could find any sentient life forms he could ask for help. He barely made it back to his ship alive. He barely made it back at all. It had taken him nearly a week to actually find the ship again. Since then he hadn’t wandered off far.

 

Ahk had decided to give up his scavenging for the day and returned to his ship. His day would have continued by sorting out his recent scavenging, practice his use of the Force, check the ship for any animals who may have wandered onboard, then sleep for the rest of the day. This was not to be, according to the loud, booming sound coming from the south. Ahk froze, listening hard. It could be his brother, finally finding him, coming to take him away, back to the Dark Side. The echo of the boom faded and no further sound occurred. Ahk frowned and leapt up to the branches of the trees. He climbed further up until he could see over the top of the jungle. There was a lot of smoke coming from the south, from the loud boom. Ahk watched the smoke some more before realising it must have come from a ship. Someone must have crashed. There might still be someone alive. Ahk jumped down from the treetops and started to run south towards the crash site. If someone was alive, they might be able to fix their ship; they might take him off this planet when they leave.

 

It didn’t take long for Ahk to arrive at the burning wreckage of a ship. He extended his arm and could feel the presence of people on board. He needed to get them out now. He motioned his hand and the fire started flickered and faded. The ship still smouldered, but was nowhere near the inferno it once was. With that Ahk hurried forward. He entered the ship through what he assumed use to be a door. He then moved towards where he assumed the cockpit of the ship was. He was right. Ahk entered the cockpit to see two people unconscious at the controls and a droid lying on its side. Ahk tried to use the Force to get them out, but after failing to sustain the lift, he gave up and took to hauling them out manually. First he took the man in the poncho outside and went he went back for the other one. Ahk reckoned the smoke should do a good job of keeping any curious animals out, or poisonous bugs away. As he re-entered the cockpit the droid started to beep. Ahk heaved it upright and it beeped at him. This was the first conversation Ahk had had in a long time. It would have been even better if he could understand the droid. Despite not knowing what the droid was saying and its communication being solely beeps, Ahk still thought it sounded weak and weary.

 

“Hello.” Ahk croaked. His voice was hoarse and rough. He hadn’t used it in a long time. “My name is Ahkmenrah. I’m going to get you out.”

 

The droid beeped, more frantically than before, and shrivelled its dome around to look at the man slumped over the controls. Ahk didn’t need to understand binary to guess what the droid was saying.  He walked over to the man and checked his pulse.

 

“He’s still alive.” Ahk said. The droid chirped and tried to move. “I don’t think you’ll have much luck moving over that floor.” Ahk said. The floor was now bent and broken, unsuitable for the glide of an astromech. “I’ll come back for you once I’ve got your master out.” Ahk bent down to grab hold of the man when he noticed a hat which had fallen to the ground. He grabbed it and placed it on top of the droid. “Here, look after this for me.” Then he took hold of the man and dragged him out.

 

Once out Ahk checked his pulse again, it was still there. He then felt for the other man’s and was relieved to feel it too. Then he walked back into the ship for the droid. Reaching the droid, Ahk took the hat off its head and put it on his own. Then he attempted to lift the droid. That did not go very well. The droid was much too heavy to lift.

 

“I hope you don’t mind if I float you out.” Ahk asked. The droid beeped in response. “I don’t know what that means, so I can only assume it means yes.” Ahk then focused and lifted the droid a few inches off the ground. Then he led their way out of the ship and into the jungle. He tried to set the droid on the floor gently but it came out as more of a crash. The droid beeped in what seemed like annoyance. Ahk smiled nervously in response. “I’m afraid we’ll have to wait until they wake up.” He said. “I can’t take you all back to my home by the Force.” With that Ahk sat on one of the pieces of debris and watched the scene.

 

The droid beeped again and rolled over to one of the men, the one with the blonde hair. The droid then opened a panel and extended an arm. Then it promptly shocked the man.

 

The man suddenly shot up, shouting in pain. Ahk jumped as the droid beeped loudly.

 

“Wha- What happened? Where are we? What’s going on?” The man shouted. “Dexter are you alright?” The droid beeped seemingly in confirmation, so Dexter was its name. “What about Larry? Dex is Larry okay?” The droid beeped again, but this did not seem to calm the man. Ahk decided to intervene.

 

“Your friend is still alive, he’s just unconscious. He’s right next to you.”

 

The man jumped half a mile as he noticed Ahk for the first time. He tried to spring to his feet but promptly collapsed back to the floor.

 

“Who are you?” He spluttered, clawing himself into a sitting position.

 

“I’m Ahkmenrah.” Ahk said. “Are you hurt at all?”

 

“I don’t know, I’m too full on adrenaline to feel it if I was.” The man shouted. Then he paused. “You’re wearing my hat.”

 

Ahk looked up the see the brim. “Yes I am, I found it next to you.”

 

The man sighed and turned instead to look at his friend, Larry, Ahk thinks his name was. “Where are we?” He asked, his back to Ahk.

 

“On Indoumodo.” Ahk said. “I’m afraid I don’t know exactly where it is, I crashed here a year ago after making an emergency jump to hyperspace. Then I couldn’t fix my ship and have been stuck here ever since.”

 

The man grunted and attempted to stand again. He did better this time, though still fell back to the floor. “I don’t think I’m too hurt.” He muttered. He sat for a few more minutes before continuing. “I hurt all over but it’s not the ‘you’ve broken a bone’ or ‘got an internal injury which means you’re going to die soon’ hurt.”

 

“That’s good.” Ahk said brightly.

 

The man grimaced again and turned to see his ship. Then he screamed, “My ship! My ship is wrecked!”

 

“Will you be able to fix it?” Ahk asked hopefully. The man looked at Ahk, exasperated. Then he pointed at the ship and waved. “Oh, so you can’t fix it?” Ahk said. The man shrugged and made a sound which caught in his throat.

 

The other man groaned and the man shifted to look back at him. “Larry? Larry, you okay?”

 

Larry lay still on the ground for a moment, blinking repeatedly up at the sky. “Think so.” He eventually croaked.

 

“Can you stand?” Ahk asked.

 

Larry slowly looked around at Ahk, but before he could ask the first man answered. “This is Ahkmenrah, he saved us.”

 

Larry nodded and then turned his head to look at the ship. Again the first man answered. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to salvage it.” He said glumly. “I’ll check it in a moment.”

 

“You should really rest.” Ahk said. He stood up and walked over to them. “You did you fall from outer space.”

 

The man shook his head and Larry answered. “We should check it as soon as possible, to see if there is anything salvageable before the atmosphere gets to it too much.” With that, Larry got to his feet, using Dexter to lift himself up. Ahk walked over to the first man and gave him a hand. The man took it and Ahk pulled him to his feet. “I never caught your name.” Ahk said.

 

“Jedediah.” The man said, swaying slightly. Then he left go of Ahk’s hand, plucked his hat from Ahk’s head, put it on his own and stumbled into the ship, Larry following him. Ahk, not knowing what to do, sat back down on the debris, Dexter rolling over to him, and waited for them to come back out. They did after a while.

 

“Well good news, we will be able to fix the ship, the bad news is that its buried, so once we actually get it moving again, dragging it out will probably damage it again.” Jed told Ahk.

 

“Do you have anywhere we could stay while we fix it, Ahkmenrah?” Larry asked. Ahk nodded. “Okay great.” Larry said. He turned to Jedediah. “Let’s get on with it then.”

* * *

 The repairs took a while. Ahk had led them to the wreck of his own ship, where they spent the nights. Ahk had to warn them several times that much of the jungle was highly poisonous, and that the wild animals were very vicious. He had tried to help but he didn’t know what he was doing half the time so he eventually gave up, resorting to carrying things. It was a week or so later when Jed finally announced that the ship could fly, so there wasn’t any point in doing more repairs until they got it out of the ground. This was the moment Ahk was waiting for.

 

“Once you’ve finished repairs can I come with you?” He asked the pair.

 

“Errrr..” The two of them looked at each other and Ahk pressed forward.

 

“My own ship is completely broke and I don’t have any other way of getting off the planet. I can be useful. I have the Force.”

 

“The Force?” Larry repeated. “What are you, like a Jedi or what?”

 

“No, I’m not a Jedi yet, but I want to be.”

 

“How do we know you have the Force?” Jed asked. Dexter beeped. “He used it on you?” Dexter beeped again.

 

Ahk dived in again. “If I get the ship out without damaging it further, once we’ve finished fixing it can I come with you?”

 

Larry turned to Jed. “I think we should bring him, at the very least he needs to get off this planet.”

 

Jed nodded and Ahk beamed. “Stand back.” He said. The two men and the droid trundled off to the side and Ahk lifted his hand. He focused hard on the ship and reached out with the Force. Carefully he took hold of the ship and it started to hover. It gently pushed the soil out of the way and eased its way out of the pit it had created. The ship then rose into the air and started to drift towards the flat clearing to the side. There Ahk set it down. He then turned to Larry and Jed. “Tada.” He said.

 

Jed stared at his ship. “Welcome to the crew.” He said weakly. He then moved towards the ship and opened the door.

 

“Is this how you survived here for a year?” Larry asked, in wonder. “The Force?” Ahk nodded, then shrugged. “Well, it’s... It’s pretty impressive.”

* * *

 Only a few weeks later the ship (which Ahk had come to learn was called the Rex) had been fixed as much as they could. Larry had told him that they needed a fix the hyperdrive but they couldn’t do that here, they needed to do that somewhere where they could get replacement parts. Dexter fired up the computers and beeped where they were.

 

“Oh, apparently Indoumodo is in the Wild Space.” Larry translated. Dexter beeped again. “And it is inhabited; it just has a small population. Dexter try and route to a settlement, perhaps they’ll have pieces we could use to repair the hyperdrive.” Dexter beeped and plotted a course.

 

The ship turned on and Jed and Larry took their seats at the controls.

 

“We should be at the settlement in a few hours.” Jed said. Ahk took a seat in the cockpit and the Rex rose above the treetops.

 

“I am so happy to be leaving this planet.” Ahk said as he looked out the viewports.

 

“Same.” Jed grunted.

 

The Rex began to move, causing the treetops to sway. Then it turned and shot off towards the nearest settlement where hopefully, they could fix the hyperdrive and then leave the system.


	3. A Fateful Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon leaving the hostile planet of Indoumodo, Jedediah allows Ahkmenrah to work aboard the Rex. They then set a course to the Outer Rim planet of Formos pick up new delivery orders. There the crew of the Rex meet some new friends, including a force sensitive whom Ahkmenrah is very excited to me. Unaware to them the first of the bounty hunters who have picked up Ahkmenrah’s trail are close behind and ready to strike.

 “Okay then, so how about them?” Larry asked, pointing over to a person sat relaxing at the bar.

 

Ahk barely glanced up from his datapad before saying, “no, Larry. Not them either.” He kept his head low down, his datapad raised high and the poncho Jed had lent his gathered somewhat around his face.

 

Besides them Jed, on his 7rd drink, was unable to hold back his laughter. “Ahk’s just like me, Gigantor. You can tell a mile off.”

 

“Like you how?” Ahk asked.

 

Jed slung an arm over Ahk shoulder and pulled him close. “We don’t like people.” He said.

 

“You might need to put a little more explanation in there, Jed.” Larry said.

 

“We don’t like like touch like people.” Jed slurred.

 

“Might want to make a clear explanation, Jed.” Larry muttered.

 

“Do you really think I’ll get any better information off him right now.” Ahk said, disentangling himself from Jed.

 

“Jed doesn’t find people sexually attractive.” Larry said.

 

“Oh.” Then Ahk beamed. “That is like me.” Jed had been in the middle of downing the remainder of his drink when he coughed spluttered and dropped most of it over the table as he attempted to cheer.

 

“And Jed, I think you’ve had more than enough.” Larry said. He got up and strode over to Jed. “Come on, you can sleep it off in the Rex.”

 

Jed booed as he was dragged away from the now-wet table. Ahk closed his datapad and followed after them.

 

They had recently delivered a collection of packages to a wealthy citizen on the Outer Rim planet of Formos, far from the main spaceport. They had left Indoumodo only a week ago and they really needed the money. All three of them had agreed to never speak of this job again. Formos was an infamous smugglers haven. The woman had given them a lot of bonuses, possibly as extra incentive to keep quiet, which they were preceding to spend on alcohol in the nearest settlement they could find. Or rather, Jed was. He claimed he was going to get so drunk he couldn’t remember the possible illegal activity they had recently committed. Larry sent most of his back to Coruscant whilst Ahk had saved his share. This was also the first time Ahk had been in the open in a populated area, and if his nervousness showed neither Larry nor Jed commented on it. Instead Larry had attempted to cheer him up by pointing out people Ahk might possibly find attractive. It hadn’t worked very well.

 

Larry carried Jed back to the Rex, but Jed did not want to leave. He struggled to get away from Larry and as a result the two of them crashed into a man wearing a fine leather coat, knocking him over. All of a sudden there came loud shouting from the town square. The three of them looked over to see a large man dressed in fur. The man was pointing at them. The man was pointing and shouting at them. The man was pointing, shouting and running at them.

 

Larry screamed in alarm as the man raising a Ryyk blade at them. Ahk raised his hand, ready, out of habit, to use the Force as the man came closer.

 

“ATTILA!”

 

The man stopped only feet away from the trio. He turned to look back at the voice.

 

The man in a fine leather coat had stood up, brushing dust off himself. “I’m fine see.”

 

The man in fur said something in a strange language. “He said he wants to rip you limb from limb.” The man in leather translated, pointing at Larry.

 

“That’s a bit of an overreaction, isn’t it?” Larry said weakly.

 

The man in furs answered and it came as a slight shock when Ahk answered. “Says it’s what he does, really.” Ahk then turned to the man in furs and said something. Suddenly the man in furs burst out laughing. He sheathed his Ryyk blade and clapped Ahk on the back, sending the younger man stumbling slightly.

 

“The name is Teddy Roosevelt, I’m in charge of this settlement.” Said the man in the leather as the man in furs jumped into conversation with Ahk. “This is Attila, my bodyguard.”

 

“I’m... Larry.” Said Larry slowly. “This is Ahkmenrah and this is Jede-”

 

“Who’s gonna be sick.” Jed whimpered before staggering off to throw up.

 

“Come in,” Teddy started. “I think we have some medicine insi-”

 

“No it’s alright he’s just had a lot to drink.” Larry interrupted.

 

“Well some coffee to sober him up then, it’s the least we can do.” Teddy said. And with that he took hold of a groaning Jed and led him inside. Attila glared once at Larry before smiling brightly at Ahk. He waved his hand and walked back to the building. Ahk shrugged at Larry and followed. Larry, sighing, did the same. 

* * *

 As it so happened, Teddy made great coffee. Jed had ended drinking all his in one gulp then sat on the sofa, hat over his eyes. Ahk and Attila were sat by the end of table chattering away in Attila’s language. The pair occasionally broke out into spontaneous rounds of raucous laughter. Larry ended up entranced with a tale Teddy was telling. A tale involving him and Attila out hunting in the mountains when they suddenly became the hunted. They attempted to flee the beast but got cornered. It was there that they were rescued by a woman from the mountains. Wea, a Force-Sensitive. It was at this that Ahk suddenly leapt to his feet.

 

“A Force-Sensitive?” He all but shouted.

 

“Yes.” Teddy said. “A woman called Wea who lives in the mountains.” He repeated.

 

“I need to go see her!” Ahk cried.

 

“Don’t we all.” Teddy murmured quietly.

 

Not lifting his head Jed said simply, “No, we’re leaving this planet now.”

 

Ahk scrambled over to the courier. “Jed, please, I need to meet another Force-Sensitive!”

 

“We’re not going wandering up into the moun-”

 

“I’ll do all maintenance on the living quarters for the next week!”

 

“I-”

 

“Month!”

 

“Fine!” Jed stood up and stretched. Then he sighed, turning to Teddy. “How’d we get up into the mountains?”

 

“We’ll show you the way.” Teddy said happily. “I suggest you don’t come with us, Jedediah. You do need to be sober to climb these mountains.” He added. He stood and collected a blaster rifle from the wall and left. Attila then got up and headed to the door.

 

The trio then followed after them, Jed muttering “I’ll go back to the Rex then and look after it.” Before drifting off back to where they had parked the Rex.

 

Ahk beamed at Larry before bouncing off after Teddy and Attila, Larry trailing behind.

* * *

 Halfway across the galaxy, on the planet of Belkadan an incredibly irritated Kahmunrah was glaring at the hologram of one of the many bounty hunters he was paying to find his brother.

 

“It’s been over a year and you still have nothing!” Kah hissed.

 

“He’s just disappeared from the Galaxy.” The bounty hunter said. “There isn’t a trace of him anywhere.”

 

“I thought you people were good at this sort of thing.” Kah said, glaring even harder than before.

 

“We are, why don’t you come off that planet and try and find him yourself?” Said the bounty hunter coolly.

 

Kah gripped the hilt of his lightsaber and the bounty hunter snorted. “I’m not actually here you know.”

 

“If you don’t find my brother soon I’ll come off this planet to find you.” Kah snarled.

 

“Okay, cool it. He can’t hide forever.” The bounty hunter said warily. With that the bounty hunter cut off the communication leaving Kah glaring at nothing. He took a deep breath to try and compose himself. It didn’t work. Mainly because he was getting another transmission.

 

“What is it, still nothing?” Kah snapped as he answered it.

 

“No.” Said this new bounty hunter. “There is a possible lead.” She said.

 

“What lead?”

 

“A man matching the description you gave us was spotted on Formos.” She paused for effect before finishing. “An informant overheard him and a group talk. It’s likely that they said his name was Ahkmenrah.”

 

Kah grinned and slammed his fist down on the table. “You people finally found something. Formos. That’s the start of the Kessel Run isn’t it?”

 

The bounty hunter nodded then opened her mouth to speak. Then she reconsidered and closed it.

 

Kah’s grin faded. “What is it?”

 

“The informant,” the bounty hunter said slowly. “The informant would not have just told me.”

 

“What do you mean?” Kah’s voice turned hard.

 

The bounty hunter crossed her arms. “They would have told _other_ bounty hunters.”

 

Kah slammed his fish down on the table again, this time cracking it slightly. “You will get to Formos before those other bounty hunters! I will not allow them to hand my brother over to _him_. Understand?”

 

The bounty hunter nodded then cut the transmission. 

* * *

To Larry, it felt like they had been climbing these mountains forever. Ahk was happily chatting with Attila whilst Teddy looked back and shouted “come on, Laurence, can’t spend forever walking these mountains.” He waited for Larry to catch up with them then continued. Larry tried to distract himself.

 

“Why does Attila have a Wookiee weapon?” He asked Teddy.

 

“I’m not sure, but he must have done something grand, Wookiees do not give away their weapons easily.” Teddy answered. “What about you, Laurence? What’s your story?”

 

“I’m from Coruscant. I’ve got a kid and I needed a job.” Larry said. “Jed was looking for a co-pilot and now I’m here.”

 

Teddy nodded and turned to Ahk. “And what about you, where do you come from?”

 

Larry listened in with keen interest. Despite living on the same ship for a week, Larry had still yet to find anything out about Ahk.

 

“Oh.” Ahk rubbed the back of his head. “I’m a Force-Sensitive looking for anyone who could help train me to become a Jedi. There’s not much else to tell to be honest.”

 

Larry was a bit disappointed but didn’t push it. Teddy seemed satisfied. “I don’t think Wea will train you in the Force to become a Jedi.” He said.

 

“I thought as such. But I still wanted to meet another Force-Sensitive all the same.”

 

With that both Larry and Teddy fell back into silence, listening to the quiet chattered of Ahk and Attila. That is until they turned a corner and Teddy started to walk faster.

 

“We’ve arrived at Wea’s house.” He announced. They passed some trees and came across a small house. Attila came to a stop, Ahk and Larry following suite as Teddy walked up to the door. Teddy knocked on the door and a woman answered. The pair of them talked for a few moments.

 

“Does she not like visitors?” Larry asked in regards to why they stopped so far away. Attila responded quietly and Ahk translated.

 

“No, that’s just because Teddy has a crush on her and needs to tell her.”

 

“Well.” Said Larry. “At least he’s talking to her.”

 

The pair stopped talking before Wea stepped aside and Teddy waved at the others to come over.

 

“Wea, this is Ahkmenrah.” Teddy said. “He’s a Force-Sensitive like you.”

 

“Pleased to meet you, Ahkmenrah.” Wea said.

 

“Likewise.” Ahk replied, stars in his eyes.

 

Wea smiled politely. “Would you like to come in?” She motioned for them to enter and they all walked into the house. Two men were sat in the corner. They looked up when they entered.

 

“Ah, Lewis, Clark, how are you two doing?” Teddy asked, walking to them and shaking their hands.

 

“We got lost again.” One of them said glumly.

 

“Let me just help these two and we can discuss what you need.” Wea told Ahk. She then talked over to Lewis and Clark and started to point at the map, resignation in her voice that she’s done this many times before. Then the two men stood up and thanked Wea.

 

“You’ll have to come down and see our new spaceship.” One of them said.

 

“Oh, I will do.” Wea said. The two men then left the house, waving goodbye. Wea closed the door after them and turned to Teddy.

 

“Send me a message before they plan to set off and I’ll make sure they can’t set a course which will let them wander off into space, we’ll never see them again if they do.” Teddy simply laughed at this and Wea looked back at Ahk. “So, what about the Force do you want to know?”

 

“Can I just say, I’m so happy to meet another Force-Sensitive! I know you’re not a Jedi but I have been training myself in the ways of the Force for a year without any guidance or anyone to talk to and I would be very grateful for any advice you could possibly give me.” Ahk said, very fast. Wea looked slightly alarmed but quickly recovered.

 

“I don’t know how much help I can be.” Wea replied. “I didn’t have help learning how to use the Force when I was younger, so I don’t know how well in the way of legitimate techniques I can teach you.”

 

“I don’t really need to be taught techniques,” Ahk said. “I’ve got them, just need to practice them some more. What I really need is someone who can help me in other ways. I’ve been told I am strong with the Force, but I’m not attuned to it. When Larry and our friend crashed on my planet I knew because they’re ship was on fire not because I could feel it in the Force.”

 

“Sounds to me like you need a Jedi Master.” Wea said.

 

“I want to be a Jedi.”

 

“I never became a Jedi.” Wea said. “My parents just never allowed the Jedi Order to take me as a baby, said they couldn’t part from me.” Then she looked at Ahk. “Why were you never a member?”

 

Larry, Teddy and Attila looked expectedly at Ahk, who started to grin nervously. “Oh well, you know, as it happens-” but Ahk was cut off by Wea raising a hand. She turned to stare out the window.

 

“I sense a disturbance in the Force.” She stated. A second later there was a knock at the door. Teddy motioned for Ahk and Larry to get down as Wea went to answer the door. Attila unsheathed his Ryyk whilst Teddy took hold of his blaster rifle. Wea opened the door to reveal a woman dressed in a long brown coat. The woman stepped forward, her heavy boots banging on the floor.

 

“Hello.” She said. “I’m looking for someone and I was told in town that you might be able to help.”

 

“Who is it?” Wea asked. Her grip on the door handle was tightening.

 

“A young man called Ahkmenrah.” The woman said. She looked around to scan the room, her eyes flashing on Teddy and Attila.

 

“I’ve never heard of anyone called that.” Wea said.

 

“Oh really? I was told that he came up this way with three other men. Two similar to the descriptions of these men.” The woman said, jerking her head to Teddy and Attila.

 

“Then I’m afraid you must have gotten bad information.”

 

“No.” Said the woman. “I think my information was just right.” At that she pulled out a blaster and shot. But Wea was fast and the blast froze just in front of her. Then she pushed and the woman went sprawling to the ground, the blast firing harmlessly into the trees. The woman jumped back to her feet and Wea slammed the door closed.

 

“We need to get out of here.” Teddy exclaimed as Ahk and Larry both stood up. Attila was already heaving a cabinet in front of the door.

 

“‘This way.” Wea lead them to the back of the house and opened the back door. Before promptly slamming it closed again. “Droids.” She gasped.

 

“Ahkmenrah.” The woman outside shouted. “I know you’re in there, come out of the town gets it.”

 

With that, Ahk straightened up. “Guess I’ll go outside.”

 

“No, Ahk, you can’t do that.” Larry argued.

 

“A Jedi would.” Ahk said calmly.

 

“A Jedi would if they had no other choice.” Teddy interjected. He then clicked on his comms and shouted clearly: “Code One. I repeat. Code One!” There was a hiss from the comm then a voice acknowledging. Teddy pointed at Ahk. “That was the evacuation code. Everyone will be scattering, there won’t be any town left to destroy.”

 

“Why do you have a code for that!?” Larry asked, as the droids started to bang on the door.

 

“It was a smuggling den.” Teddy replied, the banging getting louder. “As well as escapees. We all decided on an early warning system for escape.”

 

“Okay, how are we going to escape?” Wea yelled. She started to use the Force to keep the door up but was struggling against the droids.

 

“Ah.” Larry opened his comm link and shouted into it. “Jed. Jed. Jed come in. Jed!  Jedediah!”

 

There was a crackle then a response. “It’s all gone off here, Gigantor.” The disembodied voice of Jed said. “There’s claxons going off and I’m pretty sure we’re being invaded by droids.”

 

“Jed, can you still fly out of there?” Larry asked. The door was starting to crack and Ahk had now joined Wea in holding it up.

 

“Yeah, I’m already in the air. Where are you?”

 

“We’re being attacked by droids!”

 

“Oh.” Then there was a crackle again. “Do you want me to come pick you up?”

 

“Yes, Jed! I’m sending you the coordinates now.” With that Larry cut off the comms and imputed a code. Then he turned to the rest of them. “How are we getting out of here?” Wea was too busy to answer but Attila had an idea. He said something and Wea nodded in response. Then Attila grabbed Teddy and withdrew back to the front of the house.

 

A minute later he came back, pushed Larry in the same direction and said something again. Both Ahk and Wea let go and ran in the same direction. Attila then threw something at the door, which had shattered immediately, then followed. At the same moment two explosions happened. One by the door and one at the side of the house.

 

Attila ushered the rest of them through the side of the house and out into the forest. They all stood in the shadows of the trees catching their breath as they watched the remaining droids enter the house. The woman appeared at the hole that had been blasted through the side of the house and scouted the area. She said something to the droids which then climbed out of the house and started to head towards the trees. The droids approached the trees at an alarming speed and they were forced to move further back. Suddenly, the Rex appeared from around the side of the mountains. It landed a distance away from the house and opened its doors. The droids stopped and changed their direction. They started to fire on the Rex, to which Jed appeared by the doors and started to fire back. The group then took off, running around the trees and towards the Rex. The woman appeared at the now unblocked front door. The group came out into the open and Teddy aimed his rifle and fired. The woman dodged the blast but by the time she straightened up, they were already onboard the Rex. The doors closed and Jed and Larry raced back to the cockpit. The pair launched the Rex and streaked away from the mountains and off-world.

 

Once they were finally in space Jed sighed and got up. Then he walked back to the main entrance where Ahk, Attila, Teddy and Wea were stood.

 

“Okay, so who wants to tell me what that was about?”

 

Ahk raised his hand slightly and answered. “She was here for me; I think I have a bounty on my head.”

 

“You think?” Jed repeated. “Who by?”

 

“My brother.” Ahk mumbled.

 

Before Jed could reply the ship lurched. Dexter came out beeping wildly.

 

“Great, now we’re trapped in a tractor beam.” Jed huffed.

 

Larry came out of the cockpit in a panic. “All controls have been locked.”

 

“If it’s another fight she wants, we’re waiting for her.” Teddy said. Then he aimed his rifle towards the door. Attila raised his Ryyk. Wea lifted her hand in preparation, Ahk joined her. There was another jolt and Jed aimed his blaster too. There was a moment of silence before the door started to creak. Then it opened. Instead of the woman there was a man in grey clothing. His eyes were grey; his hair was grey and even his skin seemed grey. The man smiled at them serenely, as he became flanked by two others. One a tall bearded man, the other a short man wearing an old military-looking uniform.

 

“I wouldn’t try anything if I were you.” The grey man said. “You,” He continued, pointing at Ahkmenrah. “Have a large bounty on your head and we would hate to have to kill you and lose it.”


	4. A Frightening Journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captured by the bounty hunters Al, Napoleon and Ivan, the crew of the Rex and their new friends are being taken across the galaxy to be handed over to whoever is paying for the price on Ahkmenrah. Can they escape or will they be taken by the Dark-Side of the Force?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've just realised I keep naming these chapters 'A something'.  
> Anyway, thanks for your nice comments and hope you enjoy this chapter.

Jed and Teddy fired. But their blasts bounced away from the trio at their door. They had appeared to have set up some form of protection against blaster shots. The bearded man whispered something into the grey man’s ear, who nodded. The force field must have been removed as the grey man took out his own blaster and in rapid succession, shot first the blaster from Jed’s hand, then the rifle from Teddy’s.

 

Attila then charged, his Ryyk raised. The bearded man started forward, diverting Attila’s attention. The short man then leapt forward and striked his own melee weapon onto Attila’s Ryyk. Attila stumbled and the bearded man hit him. The short man then swung his weapon and Attila’s Ryyk went crashing to the ground and shooting off across the floor. The pair then pulled out their own blasters and aimed them at Attila, Jed and Teddy. The grey man then darted forward and bought out two devices which he pressed against Ahk and Wea. Both cried out as they were electrocuted and both fell to the floor unconscious.

 

Larry jumped forward but before he could act the grey man took out his blaster again and aimed it at Wea.

 

“Now, I did say not for you to try and fight us.” The grey man huffed. He then pulled out a pair of cuffs. He placed them around Ahk’s wrists. In between the cuffs a miniature tractor beam held them in place. The grey man then pulled out a set of stun cuffs and stepped up to Larry. Behind the grey man Larry could see the other two jabbing their blasters at Attila, Jed and Teddy. Larry sighed and offered his wrists. They grey man put them on and immediately Larry felt a severe lack of movement. He then saw the other three have stun cuffs put on.

 

Dexter raced forward, bleeping madly. They grey man laughed. Until Dexter shocked him on the leg.

 

“Agh, you stupid little droid-” The grey man raised his blaster but one of the other two men shouted his name.

 

“Alphonso!” The grey man, Alphonso, turned. “Catch.”

 

Alphonso caught an object which was hurled at his head. When Al lowered his hand Larry noticed it was a restraining bolt. Al dived at Dexter and managed to secure the bolt onto the droid. Dexter beeped once then rolled back a pace.

 

“Okay, good.” Al smirked. He stood up and motioned out of the door. “Okay, everyone out.” Dexter started to roll towards the door. Larry glared at Al and followed.

 

Teddy was staring at the unconscious Wea, frozen still. One of the other two men stabbed at him with their blaster. Teddy still didn’t move until Attila quietly said something to him. Teddy looked at Attila, looked back at Wea then nodded and started to shuffle to the exit. One of the other two men, the short one left the ship with them and onto the freighters, blaster still pointed at them. The freighter was a lot bigger than the Rex. The Rex itself was now attached to the side of the freighter. The bearded man walked over to the unconscious Ahk and Wea and stood next to Al, gently bumping into him. The two talked and Larry could vaguely make out what they were saying.

 

“There are two Force-Sensitives.” The bearded man said. “I can tell.”

 

“And we only have one set of force shackles.” Al replied.

 

“We’ll have to make do with the stun cuffs.” The bearded man murmured. Al said something which Larry couldn’t make out, bent over and placed a set of stun cuffs on Wea. Then he gathered Wea up and carried her out of the Rex. The bearded man scooped Ahk up and followed suit.

 

They took them deep into the freighter until they came across an empty room. The short man ordered them in and the bearded man and Al dumped Ahk and Wea down on the floor. They then clicked a button outside the room and activated a force field.

 

With that Al slung an arm over both of the men’s shoulders. The trio then left the corridor, muttering quietly to themselves.

 

“Do you think he’ll give us extra for the other Force-Sensitive?” One asked.

 

“Perhaps.” Another replied.

 

“How long till we get there?”

 

“We should reach the planet in...” But they had become too far away to hear the rest of the sentence. 

* * *

Only a little while had passed in the cell before Jed attempted to thrown himself at the force field with what little mobility he had, and was blasted back for his efforts. Teddy had managed to get Wea’s head onto his lap and was gently stroking her hair. Larry was facing the force field as though trying to willing it to disappear. Attila was sat staring at the hand his Ryyk had been in before he was disarmed. Dexter was beeping, likely at the unconscious Ahk, Jed was not up to translating.

 

It was Wea who woke up first. With a groan she lifted her head slightly. “What- what happened?”

 

“Shh, it’s okay, my dear.” Teddy murmured softly.

 

“We’ve been captured by bounty hunters.” Jed said darkly from the corner. “I don’t think that’s okay.”

 

“Bounty hun-?” Wea blinked. “Oh no, Ahkmenrah, is he-?” Teddy nodded and motioned over to the unconscious Ahk. Wea sat up and bowed her head. “This is bad.” She muttered.

 

They all fell back into silence until Ahk woke up. Or more, he shot up. He gasped and struggled to catch his breath.

 

“Ahk!” Larry shouted, startled. “Ahk, calm down!” Ahk tried to lift his hand but found them bound. He took a deep breath and nodded.

 

“Okay, I’m fine. I’m fine.” He said. He sat there for a moment before Jed asked the question they were all thinking.

 

“Why the skrog does your brother have a bounty on your head?”

 

“Oh, well, see the thing about that is-”

 

“Come on, no need to be shy, we’re all incarcerated here.”

 

Ahk sighed. “He wants to murder me.” He said.

 

“Your brother wants to murder you?” Larry repeated.

 

“Yes, it’s actually quite nice of him to send bounty hunters and not assassins after me.” Ahk deadpanned.

 

“Why does he want to murder you?” Teddy asked.

 

“Because I rejected his teachings, stole a ship and escaped from him, I suppose.” Ahk said.

 

“Oh, I have a headache.” Jed moaned. “This isn’t helping.”

 

They ignored Jed and continued focusing on Ahk.

 

“Teachings?” Larry said slowly. “Ahk, do you want to tell us your, oh, I don’t know, life story?”

 

“I am the prince of Azameen and my brother, Kahmunrah, is a Dark-Sider who wanted to turn me into a weapon he could use against his enemies, i.e. everyone. Then I broke free of him, flew off, and now he probably wants to either attempt to mess with my mind to make me do as he wants, or kill me outright along with anyone with me. That’s pretty much it.” Ahk bit. He then raised his hands to his face. “Sorry, I’m sorry. I got you all into this mess.” The he paused. “When we get there, I’ll try and talk to Kah. He might let you go.” His voice did not display confidence.

 

His words sunk into the others. They frowned and glanced at each other.

 

Attila shuffled over to Ahk and said something. A look of fear passed over Ahk’s face as Teddy translated. “We’ll fight him! Yes we will, Ahkmenrah!”

 

“No, you can’t!” Ahk cried. “You won’t be able to fight against him; he’s practically a Sith Lord. Even if Wea and I combined our efforts-” He clenched his fists. “I need to be a Jedi. The more powerful I get in the Force, the higher of a chance I could get to beat him.”

 

“Yes. But we’ll try anyway.” Teddy said.

 

“Wea,” Larry said. “Can you do anything, through the Force, to get us out?”

 

Wea looked up, very tired. She struggled as much as she could against her stun cuffs.  She sighed and shook her head. “The taster, it took a lot out of me.”

 

“Ahk, what about you?” Larry asked.

 

Ahk shook his head immediately. He jerked his head down to the cuffs. “These are force shackles; they pretty much just block me from using the Force.”

 

After that they once again fell into silence, each deep in thought. The cuffs were preventing them from moving much but they eventually all slumped back against the walls of the cell.

 

Wea eventually broke the silence. “I’ve never been into space.”

 

“Neither have I.” Teddy said.

 

Attila said something and Teddy said, “when have you been in space?” Attila huffed in laughter but didn’t answer. Ahk looked like he was going to say something but then changed his mind. They all fell into silence again.

 

The freighter juddered. Jed raised his head and announced, “we’ve come out of hyperspace.” Ahk inhaled sharply.

 

They could feel the vibrations and the shudders more prominently now as the ship entered the orbit of the planet and began its descent to the surface. The freighter eventually landed and the engines cut off.

 

“We’re gonna die soon.” Jed said.

 

“Thank you for reminding us all.” Larry muttered.

 

“I am really sorry everyone.” Ahk said. “This is my fault.”

 

“There is nothing to be sorry for.” Wea said. “The Dark-Side of the Force would always be attacking us. This is not your fault. You are not part of the Dark-Side.”

 

“Well that’s comforting.” Jed said blankly.

 

With the lack of the engines, the freighter became uncomfortably quiet. They all stared at the force field in some sort of horrific anticipation.

 

There was movement and the force field vanished. A droid appeared at the entrance. It was holding a blaster and said, “come now.” It pointed its blaster at them and they slowly got up. The short man in the military uniform appeared and aimed his own blaster at them.

 

“Now you, Prince Ahkmenrah, will give us a very good price.” He paused. “It very likely the rest of you will be killed. Droid, stay here. We will be keeping the droid, so you don’t have to worry about him-”

 

“Napoleon, don’t talk to the prisoners.” The bearded man said as he walked up.

 

“But, Ivan-” Napoleon started.

 

“Shhh.” Ivan hushed. “We are prepared for your exchange, Prince Ahkmenrah.” He added.

 

Ahk glared at him. “I am ecstatic.”

 

Ivan nodded at the droid. The droid raised its blaster and motioned for them to move forward. Napoleon raised his own blaster lazily, leaning against Ivan’s chest. Dexter beeped frantically and tried to shuffle forward, but was unable to due to the restraining bolt attached to him.

 

As they moved through and out of the freighter Wea started to lag. The droid dug its blaster into Wea’s back. “This place is evil.” Wea breathed. “I have never felt such a strong presence of the Dark-Side.”

 

Ahk’s face started out emotionless, but the further he walked, the more he frowned.

 

“This is not my brother. I can feel it. This feels like-” Then Ahk froze. He turned to Napoleon. “I thought you were taking me to my brother.” He snapped.

 

“We weren’t hired by your brother.” Napoleon answered.

 

Ahk looked over his shoulder to the others. “This is now both simultaneously much worse and much better.”

 

“How does that work?” Teddy asked.

 

Ivan hushed them before Ahk could answer and they continued through what appeared to be an old, decaying temple.

 

When they reached a large hall the droid motioned for them to stop. The hall was very big. It had a tall ceiling and a lot of balconies. The ceiling was supported by multiple thick pillars. The sound of the ocean would be heard from somewhere. It was quite loud.

 

Al was sitting on the edge of a collapsed pillar. The temple groaned and creaked, as though it was going to fall down any second. As he saw them, Al got up and walked over to the other two bounty hunters.

 

“General,” Al announced. He was looking up to a raised platform in the hall. There stood a man. He was facing away from them, typing something into one of the computers which had been placed on the platform. He was wearing a long red cloak with the hood pulled up. He paused as Al spoke. “May we present to you, Prince Ahkmenrah of Azameen.” At that, Al grabbed Ahk and dragged him forward. The man turned, revealing of yellow ringed with red. He looked at Ahk before flicking his eyes to look first at Wea then the rest of them. Then he nodded.

 

“Release them from their cuffs.” He said. “The prince and his friends are my guests, not my prisoners.” The bounty hunters swiftly complied and their cuffs fell to the ground. Ahk raised a hand, indicating for nobody to move. He was very still, his eyes trained on the man before him.

 

The man jumped down from the platform, landing lightly. Then he walked over Ahk. Everyone, including the bounty hunters took a step back. Everyone except for Ahk. He stood his ground.

 

The man stopped, very close to Ahk. He leaned in slightly. “Now, I do not know if you can remember me. We met a long time ago, you were very little.”

 

“Yes.” Ahk said coldly. “I remember you, General Octavius.”


	5. A Telepathic Blockade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now in the clutches of the Sith Lord General Octavius, the lives of the crew of the Rex and their friends are in serious danger. Ahkmenrah must use all his skills to rescue them all from Octavius and escape the planet before it’s too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually can't believe I have actually finished this chapter still on my schedule. For the past 2 days I've been watching old episodes of new Doctor Who in celebration during the time slots I gave myself to write this, so it's kinda a miracle.  
> Also, I'm actually half way through Part 1 isn't that great!  
> Anyway, as always, enjoy.

Everyone in the temple was silent. The sound of the ocean roared louder than ever.

 

“That’s good.” Octavius said, smiling. The general was wearing armour covering his body. It glinted in the sun. His face was covered in shadows from the hood. Nearly everything he wore was red. Even his eyes had red in them.

 

Ahk didn’t respond. He leaned back slightly, removing himself from Octavius’ close proximity. Octavius didn’t seem to notice. He straightened himself, side-stepped Ahk and walked over to Wea. “And what are you called. I can sense you are powerful in the Force.” Wea also didn’t respond. She squared her shoulders and kept firm eye-contact with him. Octavius sighed. “If we’re going to work together, you need to tell me your name.” Wea still did not answer and Octavius raised his hand. “I can get information in other ways, but it would be much easier to tell me.” Teddy made a noise and started forward. Wea put out a hand to block him. Teddy stopped, but moved closer to Wea’s side. Octavius barely spared him a glance.

 

“Wea. Her name is Wea.” Ahk said. He had spun around and had folded his arms. “Everyone, this is General Octavius, a Sith Lord.”

 

“Hello, Wea.” Octavius said, beaming. “It will be great to start working with you.”

 

“You’re going to pay extra for the woman?” Al asked.

 

Octavius waved his hand.

 

“What about the rest of them?”

 

Octavius didn’t even give them a second look. “Take them out of the temple and kill them.”

 

Everyone started. Ahk jumped forward to Octavius’ side.

 

“No, please, you don’t have to kill them, I’ll-”

 

“So you won’t even kill us himself? Some Sith Lord.” Jed interrupted.

 

“Jedediah!” Ahk cried.

 

Octavius raised his hand sharply and Jed gasped. Octavius slowly walked forward as his force choke on Jed tightened. The general’s face was blank and unresponsive as he closed in on Jed. Jed stumbled and clawed at his throat. “Okay, fine, I’ll kill them all myself.” He released Jed from the force choke and Jed fell to the ground, spluttering and coughing. “But in a bit, I would rather not mess up our transaction before it’s finished.” He stepped away from Jed and Ahk intercepted him again.

 

“Please, General, be reasonable. You do not have to kill them. If you let them go, I can promise they won’t come after us, or go to the Jedi, I’ll-”

 

“They will either be killed here and now by me, or die later by your hand.” Octavius said. “Those are your only choices I’m afraid.” Then he pointed at Jed who was raising himself from the ground. “Except for him. I will kill him myself, seeing as he’s so desperate for it.”

 

“I’d like to see you try.” Jed said. He tried to sound tough but his throat didn’t seem to be up to it, as it came out more as a wheeze than anything. Octavius looked Jed up and down but didn’t respond. Ahk tried to use the silence to jump back into conversation with the Sith, but Octavius, now that he had been distracted from Jed, simply side-stepped Ahk again and continued on to the bounty hunters. He looked at them once then turned back to the platform. He jumped up and returned to the computers. Silence fell as Octavius typed away. Ahk turned too look back at his friends. They looked, understandably worried. As the silence continued, the bounty hunters were being to look uncomfortable. They kept glancing at each other and shifting around. Al stepped forward and when Napoleon reached forward to grab him arm, gently lifted the hand off him.

 

He then took a deep breath and tried to speak. “Gener-”

 

“Now, onto the subject of your payment.” Octavius boomed. He turned away from the computers and walked to the edge of the platform. His shadow fell on them and his face hid in the darkness of his hood even more. Al stepped back in line with the other two.

 

“I would pay you the full price for the Prince.” Octavius said. He pushed his cloak out of the way of his hip and rested his hand near to the hilt of his lightsaber. Everyone’s eye was drawn to it. Ahk narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth at the sight. “But you took nearly a year to find him.”

 

“General-” Ivan tried, but was interrupted by Octavius.

 

“I think that half of the 150,000 Credits of the original bounty will do for you. 75,000 Credits.”

 

“But General-”

 

“I will not be paying any extra bounty for the woman. I did not pay you to bring her to me.” He added. “I shall transfer you the money when we leave the planet.” He turned away from them and walked back to the computers. “You can go.” He finished.

 

“GENERAL!” Ahk shouted suddenly. Octavius spun back around to face Ahk.

 

Ahk was breathing hard, his fists clenched, and he was glaring at the Sith Lord.

 

Octavius smiled calmly. “This is a good start.” He said. He opened his arms and smiled even more. “I hope you’re feeling the same way.” Octavius said, looking at Wea.

 

Ahk strode over to stand in front of his friends. He took a deep breath and unclenched his fists. “General.” He said. He took another breath and relaxed. “General, perhaps we can negotiate about this.” Ahk motioned over to the side of the temple and started to walk in that direction. Octavius leapt down from the platform and followed. Ahk paused as he waited for Octavius to catch up. Then he turned his head slightly to look at his friends. He jerked his head slightly towards the bounty hunters and quickly turned back when he saw Larry nod.

 

Ahk and Octavius continued their walk until they reached the side of the temple. It was a balcony which opened out into the sea. Ahk breathed in the sea air and looked up at the outside of the temple. From the outside it looked even worse. It was decaying and broken. The walls were collapsing and the pillars holding the building up seemed to be struggling. The sea was rough, with a sheer cliff down and high rocks jutting out into the sky at the bottom. Ahk gently placed his hand on the balustrade, only to take it away as part of the wall fell away into the sea. Close your mind. Ahk thought to himself. Concentrate on your mental barriers. Ahk was almost sure that voice sounded like Kah’s, but he didn’t dwell on it. He looked back to make sure he could still see his friends standing in the hall. He could. He could also see just how worried they looked as they watched them.

 

Octavius looked out over the sea, leaning against the wall of the temple. They stood in silence once again. Ahk frowned and opened his mouth to speak, but Octavius beat him to it. “So, Prince Ahkmenrah. Tell me, what do you propose to negotiate?”

                                                                                                                                  

“What do you intend to do with me?” Ahk said instead.

 

Octavius took his eyes off the sea and turned them to Ahk. The piercing eyes of the Dark-Side made Ahk very uncomfortable as he thought of Kah. Concentrate on your mental barriers. His brother said in the back of his mind.

 

“I will be taking you to my master; there you will start your training as my apprentice.”

 

“There can only be two Sith Lords.”

 

“Yes. And that is why I shall be killing my master, as per tradition.” He returned his gaze back towards the sea.

 

“Why did you choose me? 150,000 Credits is a lot. Couldn’t you have corrupted another Jedi for cheaper?”

 

At that Octavius took a step closer to Ahk, filling in Ahk’s vision and almost making him take a step back. “Your brother is also looking for you. And he is paying a lot more to whoever finds you. Now, I don’t like you brother, he is quite mad. You though, I can remember you when you were very little. Your brother did not deserve you and from what I’ve seen today already, he still doesn’t. You deserve my help!

 

“As for the other Jedis, I tried to convince some when I left the Order. There was another padawan I was particularly fond of, but he turned me down. Last I’ve heard he’s a Jedi Knight now. Everyone at the Jedi Temple knows my face. I step foot on Coruscant they’ll have me hauled off to Lola Sayu because I can even move.”

 

“So I’m the only option you have?” Ahk snorted. He pushed past Octavius and walked to the other side of the balcony. “And what is to stop me from just throwing myself off the side of this balcony?”

 

“I had originally paid for one bounty, but I ended up with two instead.”

 

Ahk slowly closed his eyes and bowed his head. Concentrate. “She won’t join you either.”

 

“I don’t know her.” Octavius said. He paused. “I don’t know what she’ll do.”

 

Ahk could hear Octavius walk back up to him. “Just think about it, Prince Ahkmenrah. The good you could do for the Galaxy.” He stepped in front of Ahk again, standing again very close to Ahk. He could see the red rings around the general’s yellow irises. “You could get revenge on your brother, for what he did to you for the past years. How long was it? 19 years? 20?”

 

“22.” Ahk said quietly.

 

“All those 22 years. You can finally see him gone. I could teach you how.”

 

“I could kill him just fine without your help.” Ahk said coldly. “So I can’t even tell what you’re offering for me.”

 

Octavius’ smile dropped, along with the cheerful note in his voice. “What did you want to negotiate?”

 

Ahk glanced back at his friends. They were still watching them. Ahk didn’t need to see their worry anymore. He sighed and stepped closer to Octavius. He was very close to the Sith Lord now. He could feel the heat coming off the general. Concentrate, concentrate. “I want to negotiate this.” And with that he swung his fist and hit Octavius in the face. At such close proximity Octavius didn’t have time to react. Octavius went stumbling back and, with his other hand; Ahk tore the general’s lightsaber from its sheath.

 

This was when pandemonium broke out.

* * *

Over in the hall, they watched Ahk talk. The bounty hunters were still close by; interested in what Ahk was attempting to do as well. They watched Ahk step up. And they watched Ahk hit the Sith Lord in the face. Almost immediately Attila threw himself at the bounty hunters. He wrestled the blaster from Napoleon’s hands and fired at the droid before it could attack. The droid fell to the floor as the rest of them started shouting. Wea reached out and pulled Al and Ivan’s blasters away from their hands.

 

“Larry, Larry!” Jed shouted. His voice still sounded rough but his eyes full of determination. “Larry, we’ve gotta get the Rex disconnected from their ship.” With that he turned and ran out of the hall, towards the freighter. Larry and Teddy scooped up the dropped blasters and aimed them at the bounty hunters. Now outnumbered, the bounty hunters fell back. They each looked at each other and slowly raised their hands in surrender.

 

Larry started to back up. “You guys got them covered?” He asked.

 

“Of course, Lawrence!” Teddy said, almost cheerfully. Attila and Wea nodded in unison. Then Larry turned and ran back out of the hall towards the freighter. He reached the freighter and clambered into it. Jed was stood, studying the small map installed next to the door of the freighter.

 

“I’m gonna go release the Rex and open the hatch.” Jed said. “You gotta go get Dexter. Where are the others?”

 

“Keeping the bounty hunters covered. We can’t have them flying off with the Rex still on board.” Jed nodded at that.

 

“Okay, go get Dexter!” And the two ran off in opposite directions.

 

As Larry turned down a corridor, a door opened and two droids came shambling out. They saw him and raised their blasters and started shooting. Larry pulled back behind the corner as the blasts missed him by inches. Larry pointed his blaster around the corner and started shooting wildly. There was a sound of a heavy metal being crashing to the floor. Larry stuck his head out around the corner to see one of the droids on the floor. The other droid shot again and Larry jerked his head back around the corner. There was the sound of the droid walking as it approached Larry. Larry backed off and raised his blaster. The droid rounded the corner and Larry fired repeatedly. The droid fell to the ground and Larry breathed a sigh of relief. This didn’t last long when a door behind him and a few more droids came out. Larry started to run. He jumped over the fallen droids and carried on down the corridor back to the holding cell. Dexter was huddled in the corner.

 

“Dex!” Larry cried out. Dexter beeped once, recognised who it was then started to beep louder. Dexter tried to move forward but couldn’t due to the restraining bolt.

 

“Okay, hold on Dexter.” Larry muttered. He bent down to the astromech and pried off the restraining bolt off Dexter. He hissed and shook his hand at the effort that took. “Come on, Dex. We’ve got to get back to the Rex.” Dexter chirped and started to roll forward. Then he screeched and rolled back into the cell as the droids who had followed Larry started to shoot at them.

 

Larry pointed his blaster around the corner again and started to fire. It didn’t seem to work as well this time. Larry retreated back into the cell and opened the comm. link on his wrist.

 

“Jed, we need some help here.”

 

There was a crackle from the comm. and Jed responded. “On it.”

 

Larry kept firing from behind the corner. He didn’t know exactly how long he managed to keep them at bay, but suddenly there was the sound of several droids falling to the ground. There were no further shots. Larry poked his head out to see Jed stood holding Teddy’s blaster rifle. His own blaster was in its holster whilst Attila’s Ryyk was held awkwardly against the rifle.

 

“Thanks, Jed.” Larry gasped. Dexter rolled forward and started to beep frantically as he saw Jed.

 

“Hi, Dexter.” Jed said, beaming at the droid. “I’ve disabled the beams and opened the hatch. I need you two to get into the Rex, I’ll get the others.”

 

“Come on, Dex.” Larry said. Dexter beeped and the two hurried off to the Rex. They reached the Rex and opened the ship. Dexter rolled up the ramp and onto the ship, Larry quickly behind.

 

The two entered the cockpit and turned the ship back online. Its engines started and the ship rumbled and hummed. Larry turned the screen on to see outside the ship, waiting for the rest of them to return. He didn’t have to wait very long. They appeared in the hanger and zoomed to the Rex, Teddy and Attila now carrying their respective weapons.

 

“We’ve gotta set off now.” Jed said as he took his seat in the cockpit.

 

“But what about Ahk?” Wea asked.

 

“We’re going to go and get him.” Larry answered. Jed looked at Larry then nodded.

 

“We can’t leave him to that jerk.” Jed confirmed.

 

The Rex set off and leaved the freighter. However, the freighter moved too.  It shot forward and crashed into the side of the Rex. They all shouted as the Rex slammed into the side of the temple. The freighter crashed into the other side of the Temple. Jed pulled himself back up the controls. He yanked hard at them and the Rex turned. It shuddered as it hit something. The freighter moved as well, blasting into another part of the temple.

 

Larry looked up. “Jed.” He cried. “You’re going to bury us under the temple!” Jed pulled at the controls again and the Rex broke out another side of the temple. The roof crashed down and tumbled down the cliff and into the sea. The freighter burst out of the temple and shot off into the sky.

 

“Well, at least they’re not going to be a problem.” Teddy murmured. He helped Wea to her feet. “Are you alright, my dear?” Wea nodded and asked the same. “Never better.” Teddy said, smiling.

 

“Anyone else hurt?” Larry asked.

 

“Nothing’s broken.” Jed answered. Attila said something which Larry took to mean he was fine too.

 

Larry nodded then turned to look over the area. “But what about Ahk?” He asked. They all fell silent as they looked over the now-collapsed temple.

* * *

Ahk weighed the lightsaber in his hand as he stepped back. He activated it. Its red glow shone on him and its hum was loud with it close to his face. Octavius rubbed his face, straightening back up. He stopped as he saw the lightsaber. His hand went immediately to his sheath to find it empty. Octavius’ entire demeanour changed as he realised that the lightsaber was his own.

 

“Give me that back.” He hissed.

 

“If you want it, come and get it.” Ahk challenged.

 

Octavius launched himself at Ahk. Ahk dodged and swung the lightsaber. It sliced through the balustrade with ease but Octavius was already too far away for the sabre to touch him.

 

“You will give me back my lightsaber, Ahkmenrah.” Octavius ordered. Ahk shook his head. Octavius motioned and parts of the balustrade tore from the balcony and shot at Ahk. He waved the lightsaber and the balustrade split. It fell to the ground but rose quickly again. Octavius sent it back at Ahk.

 

Ahk swung the sabre again, deflecting the pieces of balustrade away. He glanced back at the hall to see Attila, Teddy and Wea pinning the bounty hunters down.

 

“You don’t even wield the lightsaber right.” Octavius shouted. “I can teach you! I will teach you, but only if you give me back my lightsaber!”

 

“I’m not going to give you back the lightsaber.” Ahk said. “I will not have you teach me. I will not fall to the dark-side. I did not fall to it when I lived with it. I would never fall to it, even if you did teach me.”

 

“You say that, but you don’t know what you’ll do.” Octavius said. He squared up and marched towards Ahk. His cloak blew and bloomed behind him, his hood shrouding his face in darkness. When he was close enough to Ahk, Octavius dived towards Ahk again.

 

Ahk raised his spare hand and tried to blast Octavius back. The general fell back but did not go flying. Octavius gritted his teeth and did the same thing. Ahk flew back, slamming into one of the pillars by the opening to the balcony. His vision burst and all of his breath left his body. He slid to the ground. His head spun and pain dug into him. Octavius was saying something, but Ahk couldn’t make out what. He turned his head slightly to look back into the hall to see Attila, Teddy and Wea running out of the hall, following Jed. The bounty hunters stood still for a moment before charging after them. He turned back to Octavius. Ahk still couldn’t make out what Octavius was saying, but the Sith Lord crouched down in front of him. He made to reach for the lightsaber but Ahk moved first. He swung the sabre and cut into the pillar above his head. It collapsed and the roof above them caved in.

 

Octavius changed direction to instead hold the roof up. It froze before it crashed on top of them. He pushed the roof away and stood up. Ahk grabbed hold of the remains of the pillar and pulled himself up. Octavius was about to say something when there was a loud boom and the temple seemed to explode around them. Ahk held on tightly to the pillar, retracting the lightsaber and holding on for dear life.  There were several more booms and the temple started to fall over the side of the cliff. The balcony collapsed underneath them. Ahk held onto the pillar but he saw Octavius disappear under the debris which in turn fell into the sea.

 

Ahk heard the sound of a freighter above him and was relieved to see the Rex hovering above him. He left go of the pillar with one hand and waved it. The Rex lowered down around the falling temple and the door to the Rex opened. Attila appeared at the door and shouted. Ahk moved on what little land he had to kick off. He jumped and fell into the door. Attila grabbed him and pulled him further into the Rex. Ahk patted Attila’s arm, still with Octavius’ lightsaber in his hand. The two made their way to the cockpit.

 

“Ahk, where did Octavius go?” Larry asked. Ahk jerked his head to the sea.

 

“Good, that’s where he belongs.” Jed said. He inputted some code into the computers. “Let’s go.”

 

“Jedediah.” Larry said.

 

“Yes, Lawrence?” Jed replied.

 

“We can’t just leave him.” Larry tapped into the computers and brought up a scan of the area. It showed the position of one life form underneath the sea.

 

Ahk laughed. “Yes, we can. And we will.”

 

Attila said something and Teddy nodded. “Absolutely. We agree with Lawrence.”

 

“We’re not going back for him.” Wea said. Teddy turned to try and argue with Wea but she glared with such ferocity it made Teddy think twice.

 

“And I’m the captain, so I get two votes.” Jed added. “Definitely not going back for him. Besides, he should have drowned by now.”

 

“Err, he could still be alive.” Wea said, despite herself. “Forming a protective shell with the Force could allow you to survive for a little while.”

 

Attila said something and Teddy cried out, “yes. Good point!” Then he leaned over to Jed. “You need money don’t you.”

 

“Of course, have you seen this place.”

 

“The Jedi Order will pay a lot for him. We’ve seen his wanted posters. The price is a lot higher than 150,000 Credits.”

 

Jed paused for a moment. Ahk jumped in. “No, you can’t possibly be thinking of bringing a Sith Lord on board!”

 

Jed tapped some buttons on the controls. “We’ll put him in the airlock, with someone guarding him ready to blast him into space if he tries anything. I’m gonna use the grapples to dig up the debris and bring him on board. Larry, send over the scans of the sea floor!” With that Jed flew out of the cockpit, ignoring the shouting from Ahk and Wea.

 

The Rex juddered as the grapple fell into the sea. Larry sent the scans over and opened the comms. “Jed, you might want to hurry it up.”

 

“No, you can’t do this. You can’t just bring him aboard this ship. He will kill us all!” Ahk yelled down the comm. as he grabbed Larry’s arm and brought the comm. to his mouth.

 

“It was 4 against 2, Ahk!” Came Jed’s voice. The ship rocked again. It steady for a few seconds before rocking harder this time. Then it froze again. There was another crackle and Jed’s voice came through again. “I’ve found him.”

 

Ahk and Wea both immediately started their protests, but the ship shook again as the grapple came back onboard. The comm. then went silent. That silence carried on for too long. Ahk hissed and stormed out of the cockpit.

 

He then started to run down the ship. He wheeled around the corner to see Jed leaning over an unconscious Octavius. Jed had removed the general’s armour and was compressing his chest.

 

“He’s not breathing.” Jed explained.

 

“Just-”

 

“I can’t just let him die now!” Jed shouted

 

Jed continued to press Octavius’ chest until Octavius coughed up what seemed like half the sea. His breath came out in sharp ragged takes after that.

 

“Alright.” Jed picked Octavius up and half-dragged him, half-carried him out of the area. A trail of water following them. And a scowling Ahk following that. Jed pulled Octavius over to the airlock and threw him in. Then he closed the door. He looked over at Ahk and said, “why don’t you go back to the cockpit. I’ve got it from here. It’s just guarding a knocked out guy.” He clapped Ahk on the back. Ahk glared darkly into the airlock before returning to the cockpit.

 

“Jed’s alright.” He announced upon entering the cockpit. “He’s got the general in the airlock now.”

 

“Okay.” Larry said. “And where to now?”

 

Ahk threw up his hands in defeat. “I guess Coruscant and the Jedi Temple.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also. Every single character seems to become unconscious at least once in this like?? I didn't plan for everyone to be knocked out at least once but it's happening.


	6. A Distressing Ally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having imprisoned the Sith Lord General Octavius, the crew of the Rex must transport him to the Jedi Order on Coruscant before he can escape. However, their crash into the temple damaged the Rex and forces them to stop to fix the ship. Jedediah volunteers to stay onboard to watch over Octavius as everyone else leaves to get the machinery to fix the ship. Just how will Jed cope with the Sith Lord?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the longest chapter I've written and it took me forever I swear. And I am now over half-way for Part 1. Achievement!  
> Anyway, enjoy this next chapter!

Wea was sat in the passenger seat in the cockpit of the Rex. She stared out the viewport with her arms folded. The others were quietly chattering as Larry and Dexter imputed the coordinates for Coruscant. Ahk was lounging in the captains seat, grinding his teeth and gripping Octavius’ lightsaber so tight Wea was surprised it hadn’t snapped in half. As they left the atmosphere and the stars appeared above them, Wea felt her anger suddenly slip away. The stars didn’t twinkle like they did on-planet. They hung there, slowly submerging them from all sides as they flew away from the planet. The planet’s moon came into view. It floated high above the planet, shining brightly.

 

Wea stood up and walked to the viewport, mesmerised with the view of the moon. She thought of Formos; she had never left the planet before. Then she remembered that her home was destroyed. Wea straightened up, turned away from sight of the moon and left the cockpit.

 

Wea found her way to the living quarters and collapsed into a chair. She put her head in her hands and sighed. Wea rubbed her face and felt the jolts and vibrations of the ship. She slowly raised her head up and closed her eyes, focusing on the movement of the ship and then, on the Force. She could feel the Force, stretching all across the galaxy, connecting everything in it. If she concentrated enough she could feel Formos, or at least, think she could feel Formos. There was a jolt as the ship entered hyperspace, or rather tried to. Wea opened her eyes to the sound of the ship coughing and spluttering. It juddered again but still did not enter hyperspace. The Rex fell silent, then still. All of its movements ceased. There were no more jolts or vibrations. Soon Larry entered the living space.

 

“Sorry.” He muttered. “Just have to get to the engine; I think our crash into the temple might have damaged it.” Wea nodded. Larry reached the other side of the room before turning back. “Look, I’m sorry about bringing a,” he waved his hands before remembering the term. “Dark-Sider on board-”

 

“I understand why you all decided to bring him on board.” Wea said, but her eyes flashed with anger. “But I don’t like and neither does Ahk. And I feel as we are the only two Force-Sensitives on board you should listen to us more than a bounty reward. That man is evil; we should go back to that planet and ditch him before he wakes up. Because when he wakes up he will kill us all.”

 

“It’s fine. He’s in the airlock and will be sent into space if he tries anything. And Ahk has his sword, so he’s unarmed.” Larry argued.

 

“No!” Wea shouted. “He uses the Force to kill. You saw how he almost strangled Jed just then. That’s just one of the things he’ll do to us as soon as he wakes up.” Wea sighed and folded her arms. “I just feel like you’re making a terrible decision.”

 

“I’m sorry, Wea.” Larry muttered. Wea waved her hand and walked over to a viewport, the moon had come into view from this angle now. She heard Larry move closer to her. “And, I’m sorry that your home got destroyed.”

 

“It’s fine.” Wea said, waving her hand again. “That wasn’t your fault.”

 

“I was just asking Teddy if he wanted to go back to Formos. He said he’ll do whatever you do.” Larry then said.

 

“Well, my home was destroyed and the only other people apart from Teddy and Attila on Formos left for me are Lewis and Clark and, well, you saw them. They would have learnt how to read that map by now. And besides, they were leaving Formos anyway, so not even them. The settlements around me didn’t stay very long for me to really know them.” Wea answered. The she nodded. “I’ll stay on your ship, I have to make sure that the Sith Lord gets to the Jedi and not kill all of you at least.” She finalised.

 

Larry nodded and started to walk back out of the living quarters. Then he stopped and motioned back to the viewport. “You’ve never been into space?” Wea shook her head. “Well,” said Larry, smiling softly. “Starships are the best way to see the Moon.”

* * *

Wea had been sat by the viewport for a while when Teddy came into the living quarters.

 

“Sacajawea.” Teddy said as he came in. “I am sorry that-”

 

“Don’t. I’ve already had this conversation with Larry, and I feel that you should listen to me and Ahk more carefully.”

 

Teddy opened then closed his mouth. He walked over to Wea and took a seat next to her. “What have you decided to do?” He asked.

 

“I’m staying on board, to make sure the Sith doesn’t kill all of them.”

 

The two of them sat in silence, watching the stars out of the viewport. Teddy broke the silence.

 

“We’re in space.”

 

Then he broke out laughing. It was infectious and quickly Wea was laughing as well. They continued laughing for a while until Larry walked back into the living quarters.

 

“How is the engine, Lawrence?” Teddy asked, wiping away tears.

 

“Yeah, err; I think we might have a problem.” Larry said, rubbing the back of his neck.

 

“Oh, yes?” Teddy said, quickly becoming serious.

 

“Yeah, I think those bounty hunters did something to the engine as well as that crash. We need new pieces for it to work again.” He waved and they all set off back to the cockpit.

 

Upon reaching the cockpit Larry started for the computer. Ahk was still staring out into space whilst Attila was cleaning his Ryyk.

 

“We’re on Imynusoph.” Larry muttered. “That’s the end of the Hydrian Way. Okay, we might be able to get the parts that we need to repair the ship down there.” Then he left the cockpit again.

 

“But we land; we lose any advantage of imprisoning the General.” Ahk said, still not looking away from the stars.

 

Attila said something. “Yeah that’s true, can we even land, Dexter?” Ahk asked, turning to look at the astromech. Dexter beeped. Ahk blinked. “Is that a yes or a no?” Dexter beeped again. “Okay, beep when the answer comes up. Yes?” Dexter was silent. “No?” Dexter beeped. “Great.” Ahk threw himself back into the captain chair and resumed his stare out of the viewport.

 

Wea sat down in the passenger seat and followed Ahk lead. They didn’t seem to be moving any more, but they had turned slightly, part of the planet was in view now. They sat quietly, with just the sound of Dexter rolling around occasionally for sound. Larry returned shortly.

 

“So we can’t actually return to the planet, so I’m going to try and hail another vessel who might give us a lift down. But the parts we need are very heavy.” He paused for a moment. “I need all of you to help me carry the engines back.” Both Wea and Ahk reacted immediately.

 

“We need to stay and ensure the Sith doesn’t escape-”

 

“More than one of us needs to guard the General-”

 

“We can’t go-”

 

“Can’t you get some other way to lift it-”

 

Larry raised his hands. “Go take it up with Jed-” Wea and Ahk had already stormed out of the cockpit.

 

They crossed the Rex and found Jed leaning against the wall outside of the airlock. They almost threw themselves into arguments but stopped. They snapped their heads to look into the airlock. Octavius was laid still on the airlock floor, still unconscious. He no longer had his armour and he was still drenched. Wea felt frozen, even though, at this moment, he could do no harm to them. She looked away as Ahk started to talk.

 

“How could you even consider everyone leaving this ship even for an instant?”

 

“Look,” Jed said, pushing himself away from the wall. “The last time we had to get repairs like this, it was too heavy for Larry and me to carry, even with other people’s help. We had to hire droids to carry them and let me tell you just how expensive that was, after actually buying the parts, we won’t be able to hire droids.” He then pointed them. “But you guys can help with your Force. And seeing as we won’t actually be able to fly down, we need your help even more now.”

 

“But, we can’t leave.” Ahk hissed. He pointed at the airlock. “Inside there is the Sith Lord who, when he wakes up, will kill everyone on here, then tear this ship apart in his escape. We need to be here to contain him.”

 

“Well, the faster you go and get the parts, the faster you can return.” Jed said.

 

“You’re wrong to keep him on this ship altogether.” Wea said.

 

Larry came into corridor. “I’ve hailed a vessel who will give us a lift, they’re coming up now.”

 

“Okay, you guys go and get the parts. I’ll stay here and watch over-”

 

“You won’t be able to take him on alone.” Ahk said sharply.

 

“He’s unconscious and in an airlock.” Jed said. “I think I can watch over him for a few hours or so.”

 

Ahk glared then pulled off Jed’s poncho. He threw it at Jed and stormed off. Larry laughed nervously and followed.

 

Wea looked back into the airlock. Octavius was still unconscious. Then she turned and left too.

 

Wea arrived at the entrance where the others had gathered. There was a jolt as the other ship connected.

 

“Okay, let’s go.” Larry said. He opened the door and walked down the connection. Wea heard him say hello to the people giving them a lift. They greeted him back. Teddy and Attila walked out of the ship.

 

Ahk sighed. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” He said looking at Wea and the two of them left the Rex.

* * *

Jed pulled on his poncho and sank to the ground. He flicked his hat back and watched the unconscious man in the airlock. Beeping came from the side and Dexter rolled up.

 

“I hear you, buddy.” Jed murmured. “Had everything nice before. Got our business doing real well. The Rex was doing well, barring that mess with the hyperdrive. But we had everything nice and smooth. Then we had to go and meet a Force-User, and now look at us. Before, our worst problem was ‘oh no, I’ve mislabelled these packages, I can’t tell which is going where’.” He looked down at Dexter. “Look at our problems now. We’ve got a guy who choked me from halfway across the room stuck on my ship.”

 

“Sounds like bad problems.”

 

Later, during retelling this story, Jed would leave out the part where he screamed. He leapt to his feet and pulled his blaster from his holster. Octavius was sat cross-legged in the middle of the airlock. He smiled serenely at Jed.

 

“I’m behind a force field, shoot me and the blast will just bounce back at you.” Octavius said.

 

Jed marched towards the airlock controls, not holstering his blaster just yet. “Look, I can blast you into space right now!” He shouted, or tried to, as his voice still wasn’t quite up to the task.

 

“How’s the throat?” Octavius asked, grinning.

 

“Shut up!”

 

Octavius chuckled and stretched. Jed holstered his blaster and said. “Space would kill you just the same as anyone else. You would have drowned if I hadn’t of saved you.”

 

“Mmm, I am grateful for that I suppose.” Octavius placed a hand on his chest and paused. “I see you’ve taken my armour.”

 

When Jed didn’t respond Octavius took a different approach.

 

“So who are you around here?”

 

“I’m Jedediah, captain of this ship. You don’t need to bother tell me who you are, even if I didn’t already know I wouldn’t care!”

 

“Well you’re very rude aren’t you.” Octavius said. “I had thought that when I saw how scruffy-looking you were, but actually talking to you confirms it.”

 

“I ain’t scruffy!” Jed protested, whilst Octavius simply shrugged. “Anyway have you seen your clothes?”

 

Octavius bristled. “This is the military clothing of my home. It proclaims the rank that I hold. This means to say, I have a military rank. You don’t even wear anything to announce your status as Captain, how could anyone ever take you seriously.” Octavius shifted, stretching out his legs and leaning back. “What are you anyway? A smuggler?”

 

“I am no smuggler!” Jed snarled. “I don’t live in shadows, like you do.”

 

The two of them glared at each for until Dexter beeped. Octavius scowled whilst Jed started laughing hollowly.

 

“This Dexter is the supposed great General Octavius. A man feared throughout the Galaxy, a powerful Sith Lord, and he was brought down by a kid stealing his lightsaber. And then he almost drowned to death.” Jed grinned now. “Tell you what; you don’t live up to expectations.”

 

Octavius sprang to his feet, glaring. He reached out and Jed felt the Force constructing his throat again. He could hear Dexter bleeping wildly and the hold was released just as stars burst in his vision. Jed gasped and coughed and as his vision cleared he saw Dexter plugged into the side of the airlock.

 

Octavius raise his hands in surrender and stepped back a pace.

 

“You’re lucky you’ve got an attack droid looking out for you.” He hissed.

 

“Yeah well,” Jed coughed. “Perhaps you just suck.”

 

Then something crashed into the ship.

 

Jed slammed into the wall whilst Dexter went rolling away down the hallway, screeching.

 

“Well, tell us then, Jedediah,” Octavius grimaced as he picked himself off the floor from where he had been flung. “If you’re this ship’s captain, how do you still have a ship if you don’t even put the defences up?”

 

Jed ignored him as he rubbed his arm. Something hit the Rex again and Dexter managed to roll his way back up the airlock.

 

“Dexter, plug yourself back in and make sure he doesn’t get out.” Jed ordered as he swayed on his feet, leaning against the wall for support. Dexter rolled up to the controls.

 

“Oh,” Octavius said. He walked up as close to Jed as he could, the force field keeping him only inches away. His hood had fallen down and his eyes sparkled. Jed felt pinned down by those eyes, more than the Force could ever do.

 

“Are we the only people on this ship?” Octavius asked. There were more rumblings from across the ship as it was hit again. Jed tried to move or speak, but he couldn’t, the man’s eyes were unblinking and impossible to look away from. Jed could feel fear coursing through him, rooting him to the spot. Either that of Octavius’ eyes held a power stronger than the Force in them.

 

Dexter screeched.

 

Jed tore himself away from Octavius to calm the astromech.

 

“Don’t worry, Dexter, I’ll stop whatever is hitting us.”

 

“How?” Octavius asked.

 

“That ain’t for you to know.” Jed spat.

 

Octavius raised his hands again. “I’m just asking. This ship isn’t moving. You have no power. That means you have no weapons. You have no crew. Now you don’t even have a droid to help you. But you do have something else.”

 

“Oh yeah and what’s that?”

 

“Me!” Octavius shouted with joy in his voice as another shudder when through the ship.

 

“Hahaha, no.” Jed retorted. “Dexter look after him.”

 

Octavius scowled. “What do you plan to do then?”

 

“Hail them. Get them to stop firing.”

 

Octavius looked blank for a second. “You are a moron.”

 

Jed stuck his tongue out and glanced at Dexter. “Remember, throw him out if need be.” Then he turned and started to run down the corridor.

 

“JEDEDIAH!”

 

Jed stopped and looked back around. He could see Octavius leaning against the wall of the airlock, looking straight down the corridor at him.

 

“May the Force be with you.”

 

Jed started to run back down the Rex, Octavius’ words ringing in his ears. The ship sparked and hiss as it continued to be shot at.

 

He reached the cockpit and looked out of the viewport. There seemed to be an armada outside, all firing at him. Jed scrambled for the controls and opened a hailing frequency. He started to shout down the comms.

 

“This is Captain Jedediah Smith. Cease your firing and state your identity.” There was no response so he tried again. “Do you read me? Cease your firing, this is a civilian ship.”

 

The ships outside quit firing. The computer lit up as it signalled incoming hologram transmissions. The holograms appeared. There was two, one of a man wearing a lot of fur and another of a woman. The both started talking at the same time.

 

“One at a time, please, one at a time.” Jed cried. “Why are you firing on us?”

 

“I am not firing on you.” The woman said. “They are.”

 

“Why are you firing on us?” Jed asked, exasperated.

 

“We want Attila!” The man in fur shouted.

 

Jed stared at the hologram before saying, “he isn’t here.”

 

“Then we shall destroy your ship to send a warning to him.” The man screamed.

 

Jed raised a finger. “Can you hold on a minute.” Then he turned to the woman. “What do you want?”

 

“I want Prince Ahkmenrah.” The woman said.

 

“Oh!” Jed yelled, waving his hands. “I know you. I saw you. You attacked my friends on Formos!”

 

“I was trying to capture Prince Ahkmenrah.” The woman said simply.

 

“Well he’s not here either!” Jed said.

 

“I am aware.” The woman said. “However, I know who you do have on board your ship.”

 

“Who?” The man in furs shouted. “Were you lying to me? Do you have Attila on board?”

 

“No! He’s not on board. Why do you want Attila anyway?” Jed said.

 

The man opened his mouth but the woman cut him off. “I will pay you handsomely in exchange for the Sith Lord General Octavius.” At that they all when quiet. Jed quickly and discreetly searched for Octavius’ bounty from the Jedi Order.

 

“You have a Sith Lord on board?” The man in furs asked.

 

“Why? Does the man in a red skirt scare you so much?” Jed asked, not looking at him.

 

“He is a mass murderer. He tears planets apart. His march across the galaxy in unstoppable.” The man squeaked.

 

“Unstoppable until we dropped a building on him.” Jed muttered. The he looked up at the hologram of the woman. “So you would be paying me more handsomely than the 750,000 Credits the Jedi Order is willing to pay for him?”

 

“750,000 Credits?” The man in furs gasped.

 

“Yes and that bounty is for alive.” Jed said.

 

“I’ll pay for 1 Million.” The woman said.

 

“1 Million Credits.” Jed repeated, shocked. “What would you do with him? Why would you want to pay that much money? Even the Jedi aren’t.”

 

“My employer wants him. Just as much as he wants his brother.” The woman answered.

 

“You’re working for Ahk’s brother.” Jed said. The woman nodded. Jed stared at the woman, deep in thought.

 

“If you have the Sith Lord on board your ship,” the man said, dragging Jed back to reality. “Then you will be destroyed! This fleet will advance knowing that it has destroyed great and feared General Octavius.” The man cut the transmission before Jed could scream at him not to.

 

“If you don’t want to take the money for the General you can instead take my offer of help to get rid of them, in exchange for the General.” The woman said.

 

Jed glared at the hologram, but couldn’t help his eyes occasionally flickering out to look at the ships preparing to fire. “I have made up my mind, and I refuse to help Ahk’s brother. I like Ahk, his brother seems like a jerk.”

 

“If I’m being honest, that is a fair enough reason.” The woman said. “However, it will not help you. I see no reason to stick around. I’ll come and collect the General’s body after your ship has been blown to pieces.” And with that she too cut the transmission.

 

Jed looked out of the viewport to see the ships lining up into an attack position, with another much smaller ship shooting away from the armada.

 

Jed barely had time to raise the Rex’s shields before it was hit. The Rex shook but it held. Then it was hit again. Then again. Then again. Jed tried desperately in vain to get the ship to move. But its engine had been taken apart. Octavius was right. They couldn’t move, they couldn’t fire. They had nothing that they could do. Nothing but wait for the shields to collapse and the ship to be torn apart.

 

Jed eased himself into his chair, flinching at the loud booming sounds coming from all around the ship. He should have taken the woman’s offer. He thought. No. He shouldn’t have. He then interrupted himself. He did the morally right thing, not taking that woman’s offer. Handing over a Sith Lord to the man who was attempting to make Ahk into a weapon would have been worse. Perhaps he tried it on Octavius. And it didn’t work and they destroyed planets fighting. Or perhaps it did. Then whole systems could fall. Or perhaps he would have just killed Octavius. Though Jed didn’t know much about how the Sith worked, he guessed that would also be bad. No. He had made the right choice, or at least, he made his choice and now he had to live with it.

 

Although he wouldn’t be living very long.

 

The ship got hit again.

 

Jed sat in his chair and watched the ships dive bomb again. The computers flashed that the shields were dangerously low.

 

Jed clicked the computer screen off.

 

The ship got hit again and it shook and jolted like never before.

 

Then Jed remembered Octavius’ offer.

 

“What the hell, we’re gonna die anyway.” Jed muttered.

 

He got up and wandered out of the cockpit. He slowly meandered his way over to the airlock. Dexter was in a frenzy. He was beeping and screeching. The sounds of the hits were much louder here. The force of the impact was more powerful here too.

 

“Hailing didn’t go to well then?” Octavius asked from where he was clutching the wall.

 

“Dexter, its okay.” Jed said. Dexter removed himself from the controls and Jed stepped forward.

 

“What will you be able to do?” Jed asked, dejectedly. Octavius broke into a grin.

 

“I will be able to stop the bombers, save the ship and yours and your droid’s lives.”

 

“But at what price?” Jed said. The blasts were becoming even louder now. Jed was sure that the shields were about to break.

 

“You rescued me.” Octavius said. “Think of this as repaying you.”

 

Jed gritted his teeth as the ship shook again. He made up his mind and unlocked the airlock. Octavius stepped out and stretched again. The ship rocked again and sparks flew from the walls.

 

“Right,” Octavius said as he started to march down the corridor. “I need a space suit.”

 

Jed jogged to catch up. “There are space suits by the space port, one of them is broken-” There was an explosion from further up the ship. “There goes the shield.” Jed gasped as he tried to steady himself on the wall.

 

“Go to the computers. Tell me their locations.” Octavius ordered as he started to run. Jed turned and sprinted back down the ship.

 

“Come on, Dexter!” He shouted as he passed the astromech. Dexter beeped and rolled after him.

 

Jed reached the cockpit. There was another explosion and Jed was thrown into the controls. He groaned and reached up to turn the computers back on. Then he clicked the comms. on.

 

“You there?” He asked.

 

“I have a working space suit. I shall be going outside now.” Octavius’ voice said. There was another explosion.

 

“Well, hurry up!” Jed shouted. He looked out the viewport and saw the armada circling around as they prepared for another run. “I don’t think we’ll be able to survive another run.”

 

There was a second of silence then Octavius said, “I’m outside. Do you have the ships tracked?”

 

“Hold on.” Jed typed on the computer then said, “yeah I’ve got them.”

 

“Well then, let’s get to work.” Octavius said.

 

Almost immediately one of the ships started to turn. It shook as it was being pushed. Then something gave. The ship went spinning wildly. It crashed into another ship and both of them dropped out of the formation. Then the armada scattered.  They broke formation and started to dive from all sides.

 

Jed’s eyes snapped back to the computer. “They’re coming from all sides.” He shouted down the comm.

 

“Very helpful, Jedediah.” Octavius responded. One of the ships was flinged away from the ship. “Tell me the closest.”

 

“5 o’clock.” Jed said. The blip on the screen froze and was forced into the side of another ship. There was an explosion at the back of the ship.

 

“Can you not try and destroy this ship while doing this?” Jed asked, clutching onto the side of the controls.

 

“It was only clipped.” Octavius answered. Jed grumbled and looked back down at the screen.

 

“10 o’clock!”

 

A few moments later Jed saw the ship soar past the viewport and out of view. Then he noticed one of the ships aiming at the cockpit. He glanced down at the computer then back up to watch the ship.

 

“There’s only two ships left.” Jed said down the comms. He watched the ship out of the viewport. He could see the ships blasters aiming at the Rex’s cockpit. “One at 6 and one at 12. 6 is gonna target the ships engines. At this state the engines will be completely destroyed and this ship will be dead.” He looked up to see the ship aiming at him again. “Save the ship.” The ship fired.

 

Jed jumped away from the controls and Dexter screeched. Then the blasters stopped. They shook then shot upwards away from the cockpit and out of view. Jed fell back against the controls and looked at the computer. He saw the blip at 6 o’clock fall away.

 

“There would be little honour in repaying my life debt to a dead man.” Came Octavius’ voice, tinged with amusement.

 

Jed sighed in relief and looked out of the window. The ship had left the sight of the viewport. Jed’s gaze fell back on the computer screen. Then shouted, “behind you!” The blip was moving fast. Then it stopped. It didn’t move for a second. For two seconds. For three seconds. For nearly a minute the blip was hung in the same space. Then it was forced away. Jed peered out of the viewport and saw the ship tumbling away. It fell out of view and fell off the screen.

 

“Are they coming back?” Jed asked down the comms. “They’ve fell of the screen and I can’t see them out of the viewport. Are they coming back?” There was silence. Jed clambered up over the controls to see out into space more. He still couldn’t see any ships. He reached back to the comm. “Can you see them?”

 

There was a crackle. “I can see them. They’re leaving. Their hyperdrives are undamaged.” Octavius said. “I’m coming back inside now.” The comm. was cut off.

 

Jed slumped back into his chair. He gave a shaky thumbs-up to Dexter. Dexter beeped and whirled his head.

 

Jed froze.

 

“Ah.”

 

He stood up and pulled his blaster out. “Wait here.” He told Dexter.

 

Jed crept through the Rex to the space port entrance. He peered around to see Octavius taking off the space suit. He hung the suit back up and took his cloak from the rank where he had hung that. Octavius threw it back on and Jed retreated back around the corner. He breathed and gripped his blaster. Then he flung around the corner only to find himself inches away from Octavius. Jed definitely did not scream again.

 

“Put that away.” Octavius said, jerking his head towards Jed’s blaster. He walked past Jed.

 

“Hey.” Jed squeaked. “Hey!” He said again, more confidently. Octavius ignored him and continued walking. He turned a corner and disappeared. Jed ran after him. He found Octavius in the room with the grapple. He had found his armour and was currently putting it back on. He finished with throwing his hood back up.

 

“How do I look?” Jed responded with raising his blaster. Octavius sighed and raised his hand. Jed’s blaster went flying away and clattered to the floor. Octavius stalked forward. Jed stood his ground, squaring his shoulders and clenching his fists. Octavius stopped, standing very close to Jed. “Now, what are we going to do?” Octavius muttered. “The life debt is repaid, but I am not going back inside that airlock.”

 

“You were right before, when you said that there ain’t anyone else here.” Jed said. Octavius leaned forward, Jed did not lean back.

 

“I guess we’ll have to wait until they come back. You were right when you said that a kid stole my lightsaber, and I want it back.”

 

Octavius leant closer and Jed felt his heartbeat speed up. Again, the yellow eyes were hypnotic. They froze him in place.

 

“What to do whilst we wait though?” Octavius breathed. He reached across and took the hat from Jed’s head. He shook the hood down and placed the hat on his head. He looked over at Jed and smiled that serene smile he smiled when he had woken up. Jed frowned and Octavius reached back over and took hold of the edge of Jed’s poncho. He pulled slightly and leant even closer. Then Jed’s eyes widened. He jumped away from Octavius and accidentally crashed into the room’s consoles. Octavius started laughing as Jed pointed at him.

 

“You’re evil! You’re- you’re a Sith Lord.” He gasped. “You’ve already threatened to kill me and my friends. You- you-”

 

Octavius laughed even harder.

 

“Stop laughing!” Jed cried. Octavius continued to laugh.

 

Octavius took a while to calm down but he did eventually. He straightened up and grinned at Jed.

 

“And besides,” Jed said, turning away from Octavius. “I don’t like anyone like that.” He heard Octavius walk up to him.

 

“Hold my hand then instead?”

 

Jed glared at him. “You’re still evil.” He snapped. He ripped his hat from Octavius’ head and placed it back on his own.

 

“Well okay then.” Octavius said. “There is no way you’re getting me back in that airlock. And I would rather not kill you. You are much too fun to fight with.” Jed raised his eyebrow and Octavius walked out of the room. Once he was gone Jed sighed and scooped up his blaster. Then he followed Octavius. Checking out the damage to the Rex will have to wait.

* * *

Wea was sat by the engine parts that they had bought. They were returning back to the Rex. Jed was right. The engine had been impossible move without all of them there. And even then, the Force helped them out. The crew of the ship they were on were chatting happily with Larry. Teddy seemed to be napping. The ship left the planet and flew off into space. The ship was comfortably quiet.

 

That quiet was broken by the sudden shouting coming from the cockpit.

 

Teddy was jerked awake by Attila and Wea started to run towards the cockpit. Ahk at her heels. They both seemed to think the same thing.

 

Reaching the cockpit they saw the Rex smoking and sparking.

 

“He got out!” Ahk snarled. Wea sighed and grit her teeth.

 

“You’re ship was part of a bad fire fight whilst we were gone.” The captain said. Larry groaned and put his head in his hands.

 

“Fire fight?” Wea asked.

 

“Yeah, your ship was shot at, repeatedly.” The captain said.

 

“Shot at.” Ahk repeated. “This isn’t damage from the inside out?”

 

The captain shook her head. “I’ve scanned your ship. Its shields have been destroyed and the outer shell has been wrecked. Life-support is still intact, as is its engines. This isn’t internal damages; someone came and attacked your ship from the outside.” The ship pulled up to the Rex. Wea hurried back over to Teddy and Attila.

 

“What’s wrong, my dear?” Teddy asked.

 

Wea waved her hands. “The ship has been attacked. The Sith might have escaped!” Teddy and Attila frowned. Teddy placed a hand on Wea’s shoulder. The ship attached itself to the ship and Larry and Ahk came running over to the door.

 

“If the General has escaped, he must still be on board; otherwise if he was being rescued he would have had the ship entirely destroyed.” Ahk growled. He drew out Octavius’ lightsaber and gripped it tightly.

 

The door opened and Ahk went stalking out into the docking corridor. Wea pulled away from Teddy and Attila and ran to catch up to Ahk. The second door opened and they entered the Rex.

 

The place was an absolute wreck. Smoke and steam was pouring out of the walls. The electronics were sparking and the ship was creaking and hissing. Larry, Teddy and Attila entered the ship and Wea could hear them muttering to themselves.

 

Then there was movement.

 

Ahk activated the sabre and Wea raised her hand.

 

Jed came hurtling around the corner. He stopped in front of them, out of breath.

 

“Now, don’t- don’t blame me. Blame- blame Attila. They were here for him for some reason.” Jed gasped. Attila spluttered at receiving the blame, but Ahk ignored that.

 

He marched forward. “Jed.” He hissed. “Where is General Octavius?”

 

“He’s right here.” Came a voice. All of them jumped.

 

Octavius was stood by the corner where Jed had just come from, leaning against the wall, with his arms folded. He had his armour back on.

 

Before anyone could react, Octavius raised his hand and pointed at Ahk. “Now, give me back my lightsaber.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have managed to get not one but two traditional Star Wars phrases in this chapter (also managed to get in the "Who's scruffy-looking?"). Now the only traditional SW tradition is someone loosing their hand...


	7. A Disastrous Delay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Octavius is free, it is impossible for him to be imprisoned again. The crew of the Rex must attempt to stop the Sith Lord from killing them all and escaping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again thank you for all your nice comments, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

“You let him out?!” Ahk shouted at Jed. He was getting ready to launch himself at Octavius.

 

“We are being shot at.” Jed replied, weakly.

 

“Yes, well, all of this explanation is well and good, but I do have to leave now.” Octavius said. He pushed himself away from the wall and strode forward. “So, I know this is a bit repetitive but, Prince Ahkmenrah. Do you wish to come with me?”

 

Ahk bared his teeth and shook his head.

 

Octavius nodded his head then shrugged. “Oh well.” He said. Then he raised his hand again and Ahk toppled to the ground. Then Octavius stretched his hand and his lightsaber went flying into it. Larry saw Jed stiffen. Octavius was only a few steps away from Jed, well within reach of the lightsaber. The others tried to run to Ahk but Octavius pushed out again. They all got thrown to the ground and remained still. He then brushed by Jed, leaving him still standing and walked up to Ahk. As he bent down to pick up the unconscious prince, Larry stepped forward.

 

“Don’t do that.” He said quietly. Octavius glanced up, the shadows of his hood obscuring most of his face. He laughed and picked up Ahk regardless. Larry looked over to Jed, who was slowly taking his blaster from its holster.

 

“And I would like to know how you will be able to stop me.” Octavius asked. He hoisted Ahk over his shoulder and peered around Larry. “And it looks like your help is leaving.”

 

Larry wheeled around to see the ship that had helped them early was automatically closing the ship’s doors.

 

“Now I’ll be taking your escape pod whilst leaving you with this wrecked ship.” Octavius said. He then turned to look at Jed. “For the last time, put your blaster away.” Jed scowled but did not put away his blaster.

 

“But, why don’t you-” Larry said, stepping forward with his hands raised. “I know you want to teach Ahk, but why don’t you teach him what he wants to know, instead of what you want to teach.”

 

Octavius laughed again. “I left the Jedi; do you really think I would teach their ways? And besides, that would mean having to live with some people.” As he said he looked pointedly over at Jed.

 

“Why would I want him on my ship anyway?” Jed cried. “Not only is his clothes painful to look at, but his voice is so pompous and annoying.”

 

“Jed, please.” Larry said.

 

“Perhaps I will kill you after all.” Octavius hissed. He shifted his grip on Ahk and activated his lightsaber.

 

“Go on then, you didn’t before, I bet you won’t now.” Jed said, raising his blaster.

 

Octavius deactivate his lightsaber. “I have better things to do.” He muttered. Then he strode away, knocking by Jed before the captain had chance to react.

 

“No.” Shouted Larry. He jumped forward. “You can’t take Ahkmenrah.” He tried to grab at Ahk but Octavius pushed sharply. Larry felt himself fly in the air and slam into the walls of the ship. He groaned as tried to push himself up. He didn’t get very far. Larry could hear Jed shouting then there was another bang. Larry could only assume that Jed had been pushed into the walls as well. By the time Larry could force himself up again Octavius was gone. Larry stumbled over to Jed and shook him. Jed groaned and raised his head.

 

“He got away.” Jed muttered.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

When Jed nodded Larry rushed over to the others. Teddy, Wea and Attila all appeared to be unconscious.

 

“Jed, I need you to keep an eye on them.” Larry said. Before he got a reply Larry ran down the corridor. By the time he reached the escape pod it was already gone. Larry swore. He looked out the viewport but couldn’t see it anywhere. He could only imagine Octavius was heading back to Imynusoph, but even if that ship did come back, the repairs to actually get the Rex moving again would take too long. By then Octavius could have taken Ahk anywhere in the galaxy.

 

Larry then turned and ran to the cockpit. The damage to the Rex was bad even here and it took a while for Larry to force the computers to do what he wanted. The scanners glitched repeatedly as he tried to spot the escape pod but it didn’t appear. Then he pressed the comms. on.

 

“Hello, hello, can you hear me? Hello!”

 

The comms. were dead for several moments before the captain of the ship responded.

 

“Hello? There was the Sith Lord on board, we saw him attack you, we couldn’t stay, we-”

 

“It’s okay.” Larry said down the comms. “It’s okay, he’s gone now, flew off in our escape pod. We need your help again.”

 

“We can attempt to tow you onto the planet.” The captain said.

 

“Thank you that would be great.” The Rex juddered as it got caught in the traction beam and it slowly started to move. Larry left the cockpit and walked back to the entrance. The walls still smoked and sparked causing Larry to jump away from the walls on several occasions. There was beeping coming from down the corridor and Dexter rolled up to him from out of the smoke.

 

“Hey, Dex. Are you alright?” Larry asked, leaning down to check on the astromech. Dexter beeped an affirmative and continued to roll by Larry’s side. They eventually made it back to the entrance to find Teddy, Wea and Attila awake and shouting at Jed.

 

“Hey guys-” Larry tried. They all ignored him.

 

“I can’t believe you let the Sith out, what were you thinking-”

 

“Couldn’t you have used the escape pod instead-”

 

Larry didn’t know what Attila was saying, but it was loud and he was making several violent gestures.

 

“Hey guys!” Larry tried again, much louder this time.

 

They all stopped and turned to Larry.

 

“So this is what’s happened, Octavius has kidnapped Ahk and used the escape pod, I imagine he’s gone back to Imynusoph. I’ve contacted the other ship again and they’re towing us down to the planet where we can get repairs. But after that, I don’t know what we’ll do. Octavius could be anywhere by the time we’ve got the Rex fixed.” Larry explained.

 

“Don’t worry, we’ll get Ahk back.” Jed said.

 

“We’d better.” Wea muttered darkly.

* * *

Ahk wasn’t aware of much at first. He could feel vibrations of an engine at first. Then he became aware he was in a sitting position. Then he became aware that his hands were bound behind his back. Then he finally remembered what had happened. He didn’t move or open his eyes as he tried to take in more of his surroundings. They were on a ship, obviously. He tried to listen for anything which could help him. He couldn’t hear much. The hum of the engines was the main sound. There wasn’t anybody talking, there wasn’t the sounds of droids. As he started to gain more consciousness he felt out with the Force. He could definitely feel Octavius. That much was certain. He couldn’t feel anything else however.

 

Ahk opened his eyes.

 

They were in a small cockpit. Octavius was sat in the captain’s chair. His eyes were closed and he was very still. Ahk moved his head to look at out the viewport. With a feeling of dread he realised they were in hyperspace. That was it then. There was no way the others would be able to find and rescue him. He would have to get out of this by himself.

 

“You’re awake.” Ahk startled as Octavius spoke. “I’m sorry I had to knock you unconscious. I didn’t enjoy doing that, but there was no other option for getting you here.”

 

“I don’t want to learn from you.” Ahk said quietly.

 

“You will, eventually.” Octavius replied. He opened his eyes and moved in his chair to look at Ahk.

 

“No I won’t.” Ahk said.

 

“Yes you will.” Octavius said. He started smiling, baring his teeth like a predator.

 

“No, I will not, I will be a Jedi!” Ahk spat.

 

At that Octavius laughed. Ahk felt very unnerved by this laugh. This was a near hysterical laugh. Octavius doubled over, his entire body shaking as he continued to laugh. Despite how uncomfortable Ahk felt by this he continued to stare unblinking at Octavius.

 

Octavius eventually stopped laughing. He leant back on his chair, grinning at Ahk. “You could never join the Jedi Order. This isn’t anything against you. It’s just that you’re too old to join the Jedi Order. You could only become a Jedi if they caught you when you were a baby. There is no way they would allow you to join.” He leant forward in his chair. “The only way you could learn how to use the Force is through me.” He paused then shrugged. “Or you could go back to your brother.”

 

“I refuse to go back to my brother.” Ahk hissed. “I would rather die.”

 

Octavius raised his hand. “Now that’s not going to happen. You won’t go back to your brother. I’ll make sure that you never have to return to him.”

 

Ahk shook his head. “I said I won’t go with you either. I know, realistically, that I won’t ever join the Jedi Order, but the Jedi will come for you. The Jedi will drag you off to Lola Sayu, where you belong.”

 

“If the Jedi couldn’t capture me when I left the Jedi Order, what makes you think they would be able to capture me now?” Octavius sighed. “I know that you wanted to be a Jedi, but trust me, it wouldn’t be good. No matter how bad Kahmunrah is, at least he protected you from being taken by the Jedi.”

 

“He didn’t protect me from anything.”

 

“Oh yes, of course.” He paused. “I do get why you ran away from the Dark-Side to begin with. I have had the misfortune of having to work alongside your brother multiple times. I would leave too if he was my teacher. But still, you escaped being taken by anyone.”

 

The cockpit fell back into silence for a while before Ahk asked. “Where are we anyway?”

 

“We’re on a ship I, ah, commandeered from Imynusoph. We’re on our way to Denon so we can change over into one of my ships before I take you to my master.” Octavius answered. “And don’t think your friends will be on their way to rescue you. Their ship was totalled so I imagine they’re on their way back to Imynusoph for repairs.

 

“You...” Ahk frowned. “You left them alive?”

 

Octavius didn’t respond for several moments before slowly saying, “yes, I suppose I did.”

 

“Why?”

 

“We’re coming up to Denon.” Octavius said instead. The ship jumped out of hyperspace just above the planet’s surface. It was one big city, stretching across the entire world. It sparkled with artificial light.

 

“Missing Coruscant much?” Ahk asked dryly. Octavius ignored him.

 

Ahk looked away from the viewport and back to Octavius. “Why did you leave the Jedi Order anyway?”

 

Octavius took hold of the controls and started their descent to the planet’s surface. “I didn’t like the rules.” He answered.

 

“But that uniform you wear,” Ahk said. “I didn’t know Prakith allowed the Sith to join their army. I mean, I know that that planet is a dictatorship and it seemed to have been a beacon for the Sith, I meant open co-operation is something I would never have guessed.”

 

“You guessed completely wrong.” Octavius muttered. “I joined and rose to the rank of general before I became an official Sith.”

 

“Was this before or after you left the Jedi?”

 

Again Octavius didn’t answer.

 

The ship reached the planet’s surface and started to travel over the top of the city. Eventually they dropped into the flow of traffic and travelled through the city.

 

Ahk slumped back against the wall he was propped up against, ignoring the view of the city.

 

The ship started to slow and turn. Then it juddered and Octavius turned the engines off and stood up. He walked over to Ahk.

 

“Okay then, Prince Ahkmenrah. We’re here, time to go.”

 

“Do we have to leave again immediately?” Ahk asked, glaring up at Octavius.

 

“No, I suppose we don’t.” He said. He tried to reach down to lift Ahk up but Ahk shook off his hand. He managed to get to his feet on his own and Octavius led the way out of the ship.

 

Octavius had landed the ship in what appeared to be a penthouse. There was another ship sat next to it, much more sleek than the ship they had arrived in, which, now that Ahk looked at it, made Ahk believe in miracles, as that really should have blown up as soon as they set off from the planet. Ahk glanced to the edge of the landing ledge, wondering if he’d be able to use the Force to survive the fall. Octavius slowed as he watched Ahk. He didn’t say anything as Ahk continued to look at the edge. Instead he simply stepped around Ahk, placing himself in between Ahk and the edge. His sight of the edge obscured, Ahk instead strode away from Octavius and towards the General’s home, well, strode away the best he could with his hands tied behind his back. Octavius hurried to catch up.

 

Octavius opened the door and the two entered the dark building. Octavius didn’t seem like the type for decorations. Ahk mentioned this.

 

“Well, I don’t exactly live here, so there’s no point for decorations.” Octavius explained. “Now what do you want? Food? Drink? Of course you won’t be allowed to touch the communications. Whatever it is, do hurry up. Stalling won’t do you much good, Prince Ahkmenrah.”

 

“Yes, you’re quite right; stalling won’t do you any good. You really should have gotten in your space ship and flew away as soon as you landed.”

 

Both Ahk and Octavius jumped at the voice. They wheeled around; Octavius pulling his lightsaber out of it’s sheathe quickly.

 

“You!” Ahk cried. He tried to point but his arms were still tied behind his back.

 

The bounty hunter was stood leaning against a wall, her arms folded. She had some of her droids by her side. Movement caught Ahk’s eye and he saw some more droids marching over to cover the door they had just come through.

 

“Isond Aschansa.” Ahk heard Octavius said. That must be the woman’s name. Ahk turned back to the woman. She was still wearing that long brown coat and the heavy-looking boots. Now Ahk had the chance to look at her. She had long black hair rolling down over her shoulders. Her lips were painted a dark red colour and her eyes were bright blue, though ringed with deep shadows underneath.

 

“What are you doing here?” Octavius asked. He didn’t let up on his grip on his lightsaber, despite lowering it slightly.

 

“Well, after that ship you were on didn’t get destroyed, I had to predict what you were going to do in order to capture you.” Isond answered.

 

“Ha, capture me.” Octavius shook his head.

 

“Now I can capture both of you.” Isond said. “It’s just that nobody wanted to help me by giving you to me. Do you know how hurt I feel.” Isond uncrossed her arms. “The woman with the braids just slammed the door on my face rather than give you to me.” She pointed at Ahk. “And that guy with the hat refused to give you over to me.” She pointed at Octavius. “Even though I offered to help stop his ship from being blown up.”

 

“Aw, Jedediah refused to give me up?” Octavius said, raising his hand to his chest. “Well I feel touched.” Ahk sighed and shifted slightly. That seemed to shake Octavius and he put his hand down.

 

“Anyway,” Octavius said, gripping his lightsaber tighter, he raised it to make a point. “Exactly how do you intend to capture us?”

 

“With my help.”

 

Ahk froze. His heart started beating faster; he could hear the blood pounding in his ears. His breath caught in his throat before faltering altogether. His vision started to blur, he was looking directly at Isond, but she started to fade, disappear into nothing as Ahk’s entire body seized up. His limbs started to tingle then cease to feel at all. He stopped feeling the force shackles tight around his wrists. He couldn’t feel the heat from Octavius stood next to him. He couldn’t hear what anyone was saying; he couldn’t see what anyone was doing. He couldn’t even feel with the Force. Before he could feel Octavius clearly, not it was all taken over, an overpowering force that Ahk couldn’t help be single in on.

 

Suddenly he felt someone grab hold on his arm. Then Octavius appeared in front of him.

 

“Prince Ahkmenrah.” Octavius said slowly, dragging Ahk back into reality. Ahk could move again; his vision came back and the pounding in his ears decreased. Ahk ignored Octavius and slowly turned around. Isond appeared to have moved to stand besides the source of the voice.

 

Kahmunrah was stood just feet away from him.

 

Ahk shook off Octavius’ hand. Every instinct was telling him to run, run away now! Kah’s eyes dug into him like not even Octavius’ did. They pierced him to his very core.

 

“Don’t think you will be getting any pay for this, not that I had to come down myself.” Kah told Isond. “Your life is your only reward.” Isond nodded her head, refusing to look at Kah. Kah straightened up and walked forward.

 

Ahk tried to stand his ground, like he did with Octavius, but with his brother bearing down on him this was impossible. Kah looked angrier than Ahk had ever seen him. Ahk backed up, trying to get as far away from Kah as he could. He only stopped when he crashed into Isond’s droids. But his brother kept going.

 

Suddenly Octavius was there in between them.

 

“I’m afraid the Prince will be coming with me, King Kahmunrah.” Octavius said calmly.

 

“My brother belongs with me, General.” Kah snapped. Kah towered over Octavius, but despite that Octavius stood his ground.

 

“He doesn’t want to go with you.” Octavius said.

 

“Oh and he wants to go with you?” Kah said.

 

Octavius didn’t answer.

 

Ahk could feel the Force crackle as the two Dark-Siders stared each other down.

 

“Prince Ahkmenrah.” Octavius called, not looking away from Kah. “It looks like your stalling worked.” Then he activated his lightsaber. “Thank you. I’ve never been allowed to fight your brother before. Now this is the perfect excuse.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, I should stop knocking people out in this.  
> Also, Isond Aschansa, I finally made a name for her, woo, go me, I used a Star Wars name generator.


	8. A Needed Negotiation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahkmenrah and Octavius have been confronted by Kahmunrah on Denon whilst the Rex is stuck half-way across the galaxy still on Imynusoph. As Octavius and Kah duel, the Rex must enlist help if they are ever going to find Ahk again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was a bit late. Blame: replaying Dragon Age II, watching Rick and Morty, going out of town for a Lord of the Rings marathon and rewatching Mob Psycho 100. But it's here now.  
> Enjoy!

The Rex was a smoking wreck. Larry was watching Jed try and pry off part of the coverings for the external engines, with not much luck.

 

“One day, this ship might actually have a good week.” Jed said over his shoulder.

 

“We can only hope.” Larry muttered.

 

The ship which had towed them down to Imynusoph had dropped them off in the starport where they had picked up half of the engine. They had then flown off at great speed, clearly wanting to get away from the Rex as quickly as possible.

 

Whilst he was waiting for Jed to see into the engines Larry got up and walked over to Teddy. “Hey, do you want to come with me and ask around in case anyone saw Octavius and Ahk?” Teddy nodded and stood up. He looked down at Wea who waved her hand and focused back on watching Jed fail to dismantle the ship. As the two walked off Attila leapt to his feet and hurried after them.

 

“You coming too?” Larry asked. Attila answered and Teddy translated.

 

“Attila is my bodyguard and he doesn’t like this planet.” Attila nodded and rested his hand on his Ryyk.

 

Larry nodded and turned to look back over the starport “Let’s be realistic here, they could have landed anywhere on this planet.” He said. “The chances of us actually finding anyone who can help us are like, really really small.”

 

“Well, we don’t know that. And the only way we can find out is by moving forward.” Teddy said. Attila grunted something. “Hush, Attila, a negative mindset will only lead to negative results.” Larry rolled his eyes and walked towards the market side of the starport.

 

The market wasn’t very busy. Neither was the starport. But it was big enough to sell enough parts to fix a starship, with enough traffic that it could have been possible for Octavius to land there. But once he did, then what did he do? What if he’s taken Ahk to his Sith Master already? What if he’s killed Ahk instead? What if he took Ahk back to his brother? Larry shook those thoughts from his head as he approached a person to ask.

 

“Hi.” Larry said as he walked up to them. Attila stood closer to Teddy as he eyes some of the people walking by. The person looked up from behind the stall in acknowledgment.

 

“Hi.” Larry said again. “We were just wondering whether you’ve seen a man come by recently. He came down in an escape pod. He’s wearing all red, with a long cloak and a hood. He might have had a young man with him, wearing all yellow, actually more gold-coloured, clothing. It’s really important that we find him.”

 

The person behind the stall looked at them blankly for a moment before shaking their head. They went back to their wares and Larry moved further down the market, Teddy following and Attila glaring at nearly everyone.

 

“Hey,” Larry said as he approached another storekeeper. “Have you seen a man wearing all red with a hooded cloak? Might have had a young man wearing gold-coloured clothes with him?”

 

The storekeeper looked up and frowned at them. “And why would I tell you even if I know?”

 

“Well, we, we, er-“ Larry tried before Teddy stepped up to take over.

 

“It is very important that we find this man, we think our friend with him, the young man, might be in trouble.” Teddy explained.

 

The storekeeper slammed their fist down on the table. “But why should I tell you anything?” They spat. Teddy was about to respond when Attila jumped in front of him. He gripped his Ryyk tighter and started to shout.

 

The storekeeper looked shocked to be confronted at first but quickly jumped into a shouting match with Attila, despite the fact that they were speaking two different languages and Larry wasn’t entirely sure that the storekeeper could understand Attila.

 

“Attila.” Barked Teddy. That did not work as the argument got more heated. Larry wasn’t really taking in what either party was saying; instead he waved nervously towards some of the passers-by.

 

“Lawrence!” Larry heard Teddy shout. Teddy jerked his head towards Attila and took one of his arms. Larry sighed and helped Teddy drag Attila away from the storekeeper. This was a lot more difficult than it sounded.

 

It was during that that Larry really noted just how strong Attila was, as Attila was still pulling his way somewhat successfully back to the storekeeper even with both Larry and Teddy trying to get him away.

 

“Attila, man, stop it, people are staring.” Larry gasped as they managed to drag him far enough from the storekeeper that Attila stopped struggling to get back but still kept on shouting. Attila’s head snapped around to glare at Larry, who laughed weakly. “No, its okay, big guy, never mind.”

 

Attila tore himself from Larry and Teddy’s grip and crossed his arms, once again glaring out into the market.

 

“What was that about?” Larry asked.

 

When Attila didn’t answer Teddy did. “I believe the shopkeeper insulted me at first, and then said that they could remember a young man wearing gold-coloured clothes with us when we first came down here, and then they proceeded to insult Ahkmenrah.”

 

Attila started to growl something, before slamming a fist into his palm. Larry didn’t bother asking for a translation, he could pretty much guess what Attila was saying.

 

“I’m a bit surprised though,” said Larry. “You’ve only known him what, less than a day overall.”

 

Attila shrugged and muttered something. Larry just shook his head.

 

“Try not to get into another argument.” He said. Then he turned back to the market stalls, ignoring the stares of the passersby, put a smile on his face and walked back into the market.

* * *

They returned to the Rex not long after that. Wea was still stood watching the ruin of the Rex. Jed was still trying to pry off the engine cover. Attila stomped over and tore the cover off. Jed yelped as the covering clanged to the ground. Attila grunted and Jed nodded. He then peered into the engine.

 

“Did you find anything?” Wea asked.

 

Larry shook his head.

 

“It seems the General didn’t land anywhere near here.” Teddy said.

 

“So they could still be on the planet.” Wea muttered.

 

“It’s possible.” Teddy said.

 

“We can’t check the entire planet.” Larry said.

 

“No we can’t. Even if we had the time, do we even have the skills to search the entire planet, no, the entire galaxy for them?” Wea said.

 

Larry shrugged but frowned in thought.

 

“Well, there’s some good news at least.” Jed called, with his head inside the engine. “The engine didn’t get any more damaged than it was before. It’s just all the internal connections which are wrecked.” He removed his head from the engine. “We’ll need to install the new of the engine we bought and then fix the internal connections.”

 

“And how long will this take?” Wea asked.

 

Jed shrugged and waved his arms. “As long as it takes.”

 

“But Ahkmenrah could be all the way across the universe by the time we’ve finished.” Teddy said.

 

Jed shrugged again.

 

“But what are we going to do about Ahk.”

 

Larry stepped forward. “I think I might have an idea about that.” He walked into the Rex. Dexter beeped from the entrance. “Go help Jed, Dex.” Dexter beeped in response and rolled out of the ship.

 

Larry continued into the cockpit and sat down in his chair. He opened the computers (which were miraculously still working) and began to search. It wasn’t long before Larry found what he wanted. He then turned to communication and opened a channel.

 

Larry drummed his fingers against the controls as he waited for the communication to be picked up. Eventually it was.

 

“Who is this?” Came Napoleon’s voice through the comms. “How did you get this number? What do you want?”

 

“Hi, it’s… just kidnapped us just yesterday.”

 

There was silence from the radio. Then. “I have no idea who you are.”

 

“Hold on.” Larry tried to open the video link. It didn’t work at first. Larry hit the monitor until it finally buzzed into life. He sent out the communication. It got accepted. Napoleon appeared on the monitor, peering into it. He frowned then pointed out excitedly.

 

“Oh I know you!” He cried. “You made us crash into the temple.” Then he leant close into the monitor. “What do you want? We only kidnapped the Prince, we just, errr, you were just, accidental side-effects. We never meant you any harm.” He tried to grin.

 

Larry stared deadpan at Napoleon. “Whatever, this isn’t about-”

 

“Babe who are you talking to?” Came a voice from the other side of the monitor.

 

“It’s one of those people who was with Prince Ahkmenrah.” Napoleon said, turning to look over his shoulder.

 

“Oh my God!” Al came barrelling into view, shoving Napoleon out of the way. “You’re talking to him?!”

 

Al took hold of the monitor. “What do you want? You already smashed our ship isn’t that enough of a payback?”

 

“This isn’t about payback.” Larry said. “And anyway, you kidnapped us and sent us to our deaths so in all honesty, no; I don’t think that was sufficient payback.” He added.

 

“Just so you know, we have the best defences in the Galaxy, and if you think you’ll be able to get through-”

 

“He said it wasn’t about that.” Came Ivan’s voice, interrupting Al.

 

“Then what is it about?” Al asked.

 

“We’d like to hire you.” Larry said.

 

“You’d…” then Al trailed off. “You what?”

 

“I said we’d like to hire you.” Larry repeated.

 

“How much are you going to pay us?”

 

Larry quickly ran the numbers through his head. “1370 Credits. And I know you people would hunt down anything for anything, don’t pretend like you have a threshold.”

 

Al looked beyond what the monitor could see. Then he looked back. “Yeah you’re kinda right. What’s the job?”

 

“Where are you now?” Larry asked first. “Are you still near Imynusoph?”

 

“We’re not going to tell you where we are!” Al said at the same time that Ivan said, “we’re at Terminus.”

 

Al and Napoleon started shouting at that. But Larry cut through them.

 

“Good that means you can turn around and come pick us up. We need you to help us get Prince Ahkmenrah back from General Octavius.” Larry said, in the most serious voice he could muster.

 

The monitor crackled with laughter and the three bounty hunters burst out into it.

 

“Really, what’s the job?” Al said, wiping away tears.”

 

“I was being serious, we can’t go after them right now and we need people who can.” Larry said.

 

“Oh crap, you’re actually serious.” Al said. He straightened up and continued. “Look, we’re just three guys. There is no way we’d go and try and steal a Sith Lord’s prize.”

 

“Not to mention, he would be super angry as soon as he found out.” Came Ivan’s voice. “Which, knowing the General, he would be quite quick.”

 

“So you’re saying that you can’t?” Larry asked.

 

“Of course not, it would be suicide to even try.” Said Napoleon off-screen.

 

“Oh yes of course.” Larry said, nodding his head. “It’ll be best to stick with fighting young force-sensitives who don’t know how to use their powers to fight yet. That’s what you guys are best at.” Larry reached over to the side of the monitor. “I mean, I was going to tell people just how we got caught by skilled bounty hunters, but now I see you just caught us off guard instead of having any actual skill. That’ll be quite a boring story to tell the Galaxy. Okay, bye-bye, I won’t bother you again.” He went to switch off the monitor but suddenly the three bounty hunters on the other end were shouting.

 

“Wait wait wait!” Al yelled. “If you’re trying to call us useless then you’re mistaken.” He slammed his fist down. “We’ll get the Prince back; our skills are the best, even against Sith Lords.”

 

“You will?” Larry asked.

 

Al nodded before being shoved out the way by Ivan.

 

“First of all we need to know everything that happened.”

* * *

Across the Galaxy a room on Denon glowed red with the eerie and evil light of a lightsaber. Octavius was gripping his sabre tight as his cloak rippled slightly in the air.

Kah started laughing. Ahk tried to sink further away, but the droids behind him grabbed his arms, stopping him from moving.

 

“Yes, Ahk, thank you for allowing me to finally fight the General.” Kah said as he finished laughing. He activated his lightsaber. “It’ll be good to finally get our frustrations out in more productive ways.”

 

“Are you trying to say that before wasn’t a productive use of our time?” Octavius asked. “I’m hurt our time together meant so little to you.”

 

“On the contrary, our time together did mean a great deal to me.” Kah said.

 

“So nice that we found a way to deal with it in a much more pleasant way.”

 

“I only wish I could have broken every bone in your body along with it.”

 

“Aw, you say the sweetest things.”

 

“Ugh.” Isond groaned. “If I knew you two would just be flirting instead of fighting I wouldn’t have bothered coming.” She walked over to Ahk and leant against one of her droids. “I want to see some lightsabers clash.” Then she paused as she realised what she said. “No, wait, forget I said that. What I meant to say was, kick his ass, Kah!”

 

Ahk saw Kah grin and the two of the Siths suddenly moved. The lightsaber struck. The two stood still as the sabres hummed. They moved again. The lightsabers clashed again and again. They span and Ahk could see Octavius face. He was beaming, ecstatic to be fighting.

 

Octavius ducked under Kah’s sabre. He brought his own down. Kah blocked it and swung. Octavius countered.

 

“Come on, I thought you would be better than this.” Octavius said.

 

Kah didn’t respond verbally. Instead he swung his lightsaber with more force than before. Octavius pushed back with the Force and skidding along the floor. Octavius smile grew wider and he jumped forward. He swung his sabre. The lightsabers started to clash again, only this time harder and faster.

 

Ahk could feel the strength of the Force. He needed to get out of there. Now!

 

The two Siths were completely absorbed with each other, whilst Isold was busy watching the fight. All he’d have to do was deal with the droids.

 

Ahk focused on the droids grip on his arms. He reached out with the Force. The droids slowly began to loosen their grip.

 

Then Kah crashed into him.

 

The droids released Ahk who tumbled to the floor. He looked up to see Kah claw back to his feet. Octavius was stood in the middle of the room, grinning.

 

Kah eventually got back to his feet, completely ignoring Ahk. As he jumped back into the fight Ahk slipped deep into the shadows. The droids seemed to struggle to get up and still he was being ignored.

 

Kah and Octavius’ lightsabers clashed again. Ahk knew that Kah was becoming angrier with every second. Octavius was still grinning as he weaved and swerved easily around Kah’s attacks. As Ahk watched the fight he started to notice how just how Octavius fought. He dodged Kah’s attacks easily and reacted to the attacks even before Kah moved. Ahk remembered Kah trying to teach him how to fight with a lightsaber. Kah fought with brute strength. He never taught Ahk how to fight through the Force. Now that Ahk was watching Kah fight, he realised that was because Kah never even used the Force in his fights. Kah swung his lightsaber like a sword; trying to use physical power over the power of the Force. But at every turn Octavius was dodging or countering easily. The General always seemed to be one step ahead, skirting around Kah and picking moments to attack. He forced Kah into a defensive position before jumping back; allowing Kah to resume his attacks and repeat the whole thing again. As Kah was slammed into the wall Ahk shook himself from his thoughts. He still needed to get out of here.

 

He saw Kah struggle back to his feet. He was breathing heavily, his grip on his lightsaber shaking. He reached out a hand to steady himself against the wall- no. More like to keep himself from collapsing to the ground. Kah was exhausted Ahk realised. He didn’t hold his lightsaber up high any more. There was a slight tremor to his entire body. Ahk glanced at Octavius. The General was still stood perfectly straight, sabre held high, a smile on his face. Even his hood was still up.

 

“I guess I won then.” Octavius said. “Or can you still stand?”

 

Kah hissed and tried to push himself away from the wall. Octavius rushed forward and bodily knocked Kah to the ground. He kicked Kah’s sabre away from his hand and raised his own to Kah’s head.

 

“Well then.” Octavius grinned. “Isond put your blaster away.” He said, without looking away from Kah. Ahk looked towards Isond who lowered her blaster, gritting her teeth.

 

Sudden fear once again gripped Ahk. Why did he stay? He should have run. Why didn’t he run? Why did he become so fascinated with the fight? He should have run. He had the chance. Why didn’t he run?

 

“Stay down King Kahmunrah.” Octavius ordered. He stepped off Kah and turned towards Ahk.

 

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

 

All four of them froze as they looked at the door.

 

There was another knock.

 

Slowly Octavius walked over to the door. He opened it.

 

“Hello.” That was Larry’s voice.

 

“Hello?” Octavius said. He frowned then closed the door.

 

Then he shook his head and opened it again.

 

He was thrown back, slamming down onto the floor.

 

There were several blasts coming from the door, aimed at the droids and Isond, who ducked around a corner, shielding herself from them. The droids weren’t so lucky.

 

Wea and Attila burst into the room. Attila shouted as he caught sight of Ahk.

 

Both Octavius and Kah leapt back to their feet. They summoned their lightsabers and ignited them.

 

Wea raised her hands and pushed out. Whilst it didn’t force Octavius or Kah back, it managed to keep them at bay for long enough. Attila ran forward and grabbed Ahk. As he returned Ahk saw two of the bounty hunters who had kidnapped them earlier there along with Larry. Both of them aimed their blasters and started firing as soon as Wea jumped back out the door.

 

Kah and Octavius easily deflected the blasts.

 

As they all rounded a corner, one of the bounty hunters, Ivan opened a comm.

 

“We’ve got him, come down now.”

 

The other bounty hunter started shooting around the corner.

 

“Get his cuffs off.” Larry instructed. Ivan nodded and took Ahk’s wrists in hand. As he fiddled with the cuffs Wea joined the other’s side and kept off the angry Siths who were bearing down on them.

 

The cuffs slid off Ahk and clunked to the ground. A ship came down from the sky opened the doors.

 

“Go go go!” The bounty hunter shouted. He shot again before taking off, running towards the ship, dragging Ivan behind him.

 

Ahk, Attila, Larry and Wea ran as well. Ahk looked over his shoulder for only a moment. Octavius was running over to them. He couldn’t see Kah. Ahk turned back, focusing on the ship.

 

The bounty hunters had entered the ship and had disappeared into it.

 

There was a sudden crack. Part of the wall had broken away and was pelting the ship. Ahk twisted around to see Kah stood at the other side of the landing bay. His hand was outstretched.

 

The ground around them crumbled as they jumped and landed in the ship. However, before it could take off a large chunk of the building crashed into them.

 

They grabbed hold of anything they could as they rode the shockwave out.

 

“Do this always happen to ships you’re on?” Wea cried out in Ahk’s direction. The ship juddered and part of the rubble came flooding through the door.

 

“Go!” The bounty hunters shouted together. The doors slammed shut and Ahk felt the ship rise and fly away.

 

The engines rumbled as they gasped to catch their breath.

 

“Okay, we’ve done it! And without anyone getting killed.” One of the bounty hunters, Al, said. Then he turned to Larry. “So that’s the fee and the bonus you owe us.”

 

Larry sighed as the ship jumped into hyperspace.

 

Ahk turned away from the group and looked out the viewport. He rubbed his wrist and frowned. He’d been so close to being caught by his brother. He couldn’t ever let that happen again.

 

It took Ahk a while to realise the pile of rubble was moving. A sudden movement caught his eye and he turned to look at it. There was a flash of scarlet and Octavius jumped from the rubble.

 

Ahk leapt back, crashing into Wea. The others turned and whatever they were planning to say seemed to die in their throats.

 

Before Octavius could speak Al and Ivan pulled out their blasters and started shooting. Octavius ignited his lightsaber and deflected the blasters. He sighed and stepped forward. He raised his lightsaber and suddenly Ahk was completely fed up. He shot out his hand and grabbed hold of Octavius through the Force. It had the desired effect.

 

Octavius was forced still. His body went ridged and Ahk forced his arm down. The lightsaber pointed to the ground, unable to harm anyone whilst Ahk concentrated. He could hear his friends saying something, he wasn’t sure what. Ahk blocked the sound out and concentrated on holding Octavius down.

 

Ahk walked to face the General. He reached out and took hold of Octavius’ hood. Ahk slowly pulled it down. Octavius’ yellow eyes flashed as he stared at Ahk. Ahk could feel Octavius resisting, but he held him still. Ahk didn’t know how. He could feel the power surging within Octavius, but that power wasn’t enough to break through Ahk’s hold. He glared at Ahk.

 

Ahk simply leant forward and moved very close to Octavius. He could feel the General’s body heat and could see how Octavius’ eyes melted from yellow to red. Then Ahk smiled serenely.

 

This didn’t last however.

 

The ship fell out of hyperspace and was instantly hit. Ahk lost his hold over Octavius and the two of them went flying into the side of the ship.

 

Ahk could vaguely see his friends collapsed on the floor too, but he was far more concerned with the Sith Lord just next to him. Octavius groaned and staggered to his feet. Then he went to ignite his lightsaber. Only to realise it wasn’t in his hand. Ahk realised that was well.

 

Octavius’ sabre was lying away from them. And Ahk spotted it first. Instead of trying to grab it with the Force, instead Ahk jumped on it, igniting it himself and raising it to Octavius’ throat before he could react.

 

That was when the third bounty hunter rushed in.

 

“Hey so our randomised co-ordinates have landed us in a space battle. We’ve been hit so but it’s not too bad. I’ll have to retreat before we can jump into OH MY GOD WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?”

 

“Get us out of here now!” Larry ordered. The bounty hunter, Napoleon it had to be, nodded and ran back out the room.

 

There was another shock as the ship got hit.

 

Ahk pulled the sabre away from Octavius quickly as the shockwave ran through the ship. As it subsided Ahk pushed Octavius against the wall. He raised the lightsaber to the General’s throat.

 

Octavius laughed as he slowly raised his hands in defeat. “Oh, this does seem familiar. Wea was right to ask, Prince Ahkmenrah. Does this happen to all the ships you’re on?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Ahk pulling down a painting of Octavius* I've had enough of this dude.


	9. A Welcome Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having rescued Ahkmenrah from the clutches of his brother Kahmunrah, the ship has accidentally fled into the middle of a star fight. Even more trouble is on board as they involuntarily took General Octavius with them, who is now looking for any opportunity to convince Ahk to join him on the darkside

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me... forever. Largely because I left my draft and had to then figure out where some characters are. Then I got ill. Then I started replaying Dragon Age: Origins (I finished DAII). Then my laptop charger broke so I now have to use my tiny and super slow old laptop which takes forever to do anything. Then I got ill again. So sorry about that.  
> Anyway, this laptop I'm using doesn't actually have word, so the thing I'm using doesn't have spell check or grammar check on so if there's a horrible spelling/grammar mistake that I didn't catch I'm sorry for that too.  
> Anyway, enjoy, this is the second to last chapter of Part 1 so I'm going to start planning scenes for each chapter in Part 2 as I get onto the last chapter.

Larry ran to the cockpit, Ivan by his side. They had left the others guarding Octavius. Ahk with the lightsaber to the General’s throat.

“Are we getting out?” Ivan asked as he jumped into the co-pilot seat.

“I’m trying!” Napoleon cried. “It’s not easy.” He then jerked the controls and the ship swerved out of the way of another.

“Where are we?”

“Near Azameen.” Napoleon answered as he dodged another ship.

“Near Azame…” Ivan paused. “AZAMEEN IS WHERE KAHMUNRAH IS FROM!”

“Why did you go to Azameen?!” Larry said.

“I didn’t. I said. I randomised it.” Napoleon argued. “We were being chased by Siths. I didn’t have time to put anything else in.”

“Okay, I’ll put in some coordinates.” Ivan said. He got out the chair and ran to the computers.

Larry jumped into the co-pilot seat and took hold of the co-controls. Together Larry and Napoleon managed to evade most of the battle.

“Okay, I’ve got some coordinates.” Ivan called out.

“We’ve just got to get out of here.” Napoleon muttered.

“No we don’t.”

All three of them jumped.

Ahk was stood in the threshold of the cockpit. He was stood looking past all of them, through the viewport and out into space. Larry turned to look too. A planet hung in the distance. Ahk seemed transfixed by this planet.

“You’ve left the General!” Ivan said. Ahk didn’t seem to hear him.

“Prince Ahkmenrah, where is the General?” Napoleon asked. Again Ahk didn’t listen.

“We’re going there.” Ahk said.  
“No, Ahk, we need to get out of here.” Larry tried. He looked back out the viewport.

“That is Azameen.” Ahk said. “We need to go there.”

“But-“

“We are going to Azameen!” Ahk said loudly. He stepped forward, past Ivan and towered behind Napoleon. “You’ll get us through this fight and you will get us to Azameen.” He ordered, a sharp note in his voice. Larry saw Napoleon shiver slightly and nodded.

The ship rocked as it was hit again. Ivan braced himself against the wall as Ahk stood still, his eyes locked on Azameen.

Larry got out of the co-pilot chair which Ivan fell into. The two bounty hunters took hold of the controls and the ship start to dart between the fighting ships as it made its way towards the planet.

“Ahk?” Larry said quietly. Ahk nodded but did not look away. “What did you do with the General?”

“They’re holding him.” Ahk muttered.

Unable to get much else out of Ahk, Larry turned and ran out of the cockpit. He made it back to the entrance, without incident, to find Octavius pinned to the wall by Wea’s force powers, with Attila holding his Ryyk to the General’s throat. Al held his blaster pointed directly at Octavius.

“So are we going to Azameen?” Octavius asked.

“What do you want, General Octavius?” Larry asked, suddenly very tired. He wondered how long he had been awake. He had managed to nap on the way to Denon, but that was short and left him feeling worse than he had before.

“I simply informed Prince Ahkmenrah where we were. How could you possibly think I want anything?” Octavius replied. He smiled.

Larry sighed. The ship rocked again. Larry saw Attila pull his Rykk away as the ship shuddered.

“What we might as well discuss,” Octavius said as Attila brought his Ryyk back to threaten the General. “What do you all want?”

Al opened his mouth but Octavius beat him to it. “Not you, Alphonso, we all know what you want. I was talking to the others.”

Larry didn’t answer. Neither did Wea or Attila.

“Come on, it’ll be fun.” Octavius encouraged. Still none of them spoke. “Ah, Prince Ahkmenrah.” Larry glanced around to see Ahk walking back into the area. Octavius was still pinned against the wall, and was unable to move much to look at Ahk. “We were just talking, what do you want? Have you decided what we’ll be doing next?”

Ahk stood in silence for a few moments. Then, “we’ll be travelling to Azameen.”

Octavius broke out into a smile. “Oh good.”

“But won’t your brother go back there?” Al asked.

“It’ll be the last place he’ll expect us to go.” Octavius replied.

“Kah won’t go back there now.” Ahk said slowly. “But he didn’t care much for it. I have to go and help my people as much as I can whilst he’s away.” Then Ahk took a deep breath. “Attila, Wea, release him.”

“What?!” Cried Larry and Wea together, Attila made a very angry noise.

“Release him now.” Ahk repeated, firmer this time.

Wea and Attila looked at each other before slowly stepping back. Octavius pushed himself off the wall and stretched. Only for Ahk to push him back against it.

“You are going to help us-” Ahk started.

“Always up to wreck Kah’s life-” Octavius tried but Ahk cut over him.

“If you don’t follow my every word or try anything-”

“What you’ll kill me?” Octavius grinned.

Ahk stepped back and Octavius brushed his clothes down.

The ship shuddered as it entered the planet’s atmosphere. Ahk grabbed hold of Octavius’ arm and dragged him out of the area. Al darted out in front of them and disappeared down the corridor.  
Larry rubbed his face. Wea and Attila stood by his side and sighed. All three of them followed after Ahk.

 

* * *

 

Ahk dragged Octavius into the ship’s cockpit. Al had reached the cockpit first and was busy working on the computers. Ivan and Napoleon was concentrating on preparing the ship to land. Or at least, they were pretending to have to focus, as all three bounty hunters were sat rigid, not even turning around to look at Ahk and Octavius as they walked in.

Ahk pushed on Octavius’ shoulder and forced him to sit down. Then Ahk turned back to the bounty hunters. “How long before we land?”

“Not long, Prince Ahkmenrah.” Napoleon said. “We’re coming on the city you directed us to now.”

The city was located only a short distance away from the fortress Ahk lived in for much of his life. It was there, hanging imposingly over the city. Ahk thought it looked very much like the building equivalent of Octavius when he was dominating a conversation. The fortress made Ahk feel uncomfortable. It was an extension of Kah himself and Ahk could feel traces of Kah’s presence already. Ahk turned away from the castle and instead focused on the city.

On closer inspection Ahk realised much of it was in ruins. He was sure it wasn’t like that when he left. Much of it was blacked and burnt, along with much of the landscape. The river which carved through the area remained the same however and Ahk took what little comfort he could from that. He could feel Octavius’ eye’s burning into him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Larry, Wea and Attila enter the cockpit.

The ship slowly landed in a starport by the edge of town.

“You mustn’t tell anyone my name.” Ahk said. “I’ve wanted to come back here for so long but it is still dangerous for me to do so.”

“Won’t you be recognised?” Larry asked.

“I doubt it. I never really came out here. Still I won’t draw attention to myself. Then hope I won’t be recognised.” Ahk motioned towards Octavius. “He will be though.” Ahk moved over to the General and reached down to take hold of his cloak. “He’ll need to take this off. Is there anything he can wear to hide himself? Even if he hadn’t come here enough to make himself known, he’d still be easily recognisable.”

“I am here you know.” Octavius said. “Don’t I get a say.” Everyone ignored him.

Attila nodded and took off his coat. “Here, you can use this.”

“Thank you.” Ahk said, taking the coat, smiling. Then he stopped and turned to Octavius. “Take the cloak off.”

Octavius was about to reply but thought better off it. Instead he removed his cloak and exchanged it for the coat. He stood up and pulled the coat on. With it he looked remarkable less like himself.

“Alright, let’s go.” Ahk said, nodding. “Larry, you’ll have to do the talking.”

Ahk didn't see Larry nod but he assumed he did. Ahk grabbed Octavius' arm and yanked him across the cockpit.

"We'll wait here." Ivan muttered.

"You've still got to pay us." Al added.

Ahk ignored them and dragged Octavius to the main entrance. The door opened and Ahk looked out through the threshold. The air tasted bitter and burnt. The wind was bitting. There wasn't many people in the starport and who were there were running about the place.

"Okay Ahk, come on you can do this." Ahk breathed to himself.

"I know you can do it. The ground is right there." Octavius said, breaking Ahk out of his trance.

Ahk glared at Octavius before pushing him out the door. The General fell to the ground with a loud thump. Ahk jumped after him. He landed on the planet's surface and breathed heavily. This was were he belonged. He grabbed Octavius and dragged him to his feet. Larry, Wea and Attila followed them out the ship quickly.

Ahk paused as he waited for Larry to take the lead.

"I need to know what's going on here." Ahk told Larry. He nodded and started to walk. Wea and Attila glanced at each other then Ahk. Ahk nodded and they followed Larry. Ahk tugged at Octavius arm and marched forward.

"You could always just ask me what's happening." Octavius told Ahk. "I do know."

"Yes, but what you'll tell me would no doubt be your own warped version with an agenda behind it."

"I don't know how much of an agenda I could possibly fit into 'this planet has been wrecked'." Octavius muttered.

They continued to walk further into the spaceport.

"Hi." Larry tried when they reach some people. It didn't have the desired effect. Instead the people ran away before Larry could continue.

"Try again." Ahk said. Larry nodded and moved towards others.

"Well Prince Ahkmenrah, you are quite good at taking charge." Octavius said. "That's a good quality for being my apprentice."

Ahk pulled hard on Octavius' arm causing him to stumble.

"I'm just saying, to help your people you need to be good at taking charge. I am, so if you need any support-"

"General, I don't think I would ever need or accept your support."

"Think." Octavius repeated.

Ahk ignored him. Then he noticed that Larry was in conversation with someone.

"There's always fighting now." The person was saying. "It didn't use to be like this."

"Do you know why that started?" Larry asked.

The person shrugged. "Just one day the gangs rolled up and never left. Everything went to hell after that."

"Haven't you had any help with dealing with them?"

"No, and if you think that the castle will help us you're wrong. Sometimes soldiers come down from there but they don't have any effect. Most people think the gangs are working with the soldiers. We've never been able to prove anything but it seems like the soldiers are encouraging this mayhem."

"When we arrived here there was a battle happening." Larry muttered, looking up at the sky.

"It was probably a gang fight." The person said. "The sooner I can get off this planet the better, I'd recommend you doing the same right now." With that the person turned and hurried away.

"Now what do you want to do?" Wea asked.

"I need to find out more." Ahk said.

"I think," Larry started slowly. "Perhaps we should leave, I don't know what we could do-"

"No! We need to- I need to..." Ahk tried. Eventually he just shook his head. "We're staying and helping as much as we can." With that Ahk continued forward, dragging Octavius behind him. He didn't see the others following but they appeared behind him nonetheless.

As they continued to walk they left the starport and into the town. Ahk looked around at the town and took it in. Several of the building were collapsed. Some were still smoking. Rubble filled the street, much of it stained dark red. The ground was cracked and the bitter taste of the air was much stronger here. There was even less people running around the town then there was at the starport. Those who were there was half hidden in the shadows of the broken buildings. They all stared at them as they passed. Their eyes look cold and hungry. Ahk didn't notice that he had let go of Octavius and started to walk faster than the rest of the group.

Ahk could hear the others saying something but he didn't here what exactly. The air was getting heavier and he started to notice more people. None of them were moving much, but all of them were watching him.

"Terrible isn't it."

Ahk jumped as Octavius appeared by his side.

"You can help them you know." Octavius said. "And I can help you."

"I don't need your help." Ahk snapped.

"Are you sure? Even though you are powerful in the Force, you're nowhere near ready to fight by yourself. To make it even worse, you have no political allies." Octavius said. "If you want to fight your brother, you need both of them. I have both of these skills. You saw me fight Kah, I beat him easily. I can help you, let me help you. We can get rid of your brother and help your brother. You can rule, you can be a better king than Kah. Look at these people, you can do so much better for them. With my help you can remove these problems and rebuild this planet."

Ahk didn't answer as he looked over the carnage of the town.

"Hey," Larry said. Ahk turned away from the town and looked over. "We've found someone who can help us."

Ahk and Octavius followed Larry over to where Wea and Attila were standing with a woman wrapped in dark cloak.

"Can you tell us again please." Wea asked the woman. She nodded.

"There is a crime lord who lives in the centre of town. He calls himself the Bone King. He rules the major gang in this area, they're responsible for all this destruction. The soldiers from the castle come down every few weeks. Nobody can prove anything but we all know the soldiers come to collect the riches from the Bone King. He and his gang takes it from us, if we can't pay, which we usually can't they wreck part of the town. The soldiers allow the gang to stay as long as they can pay. When we have nothing to give, they take our food. They've been taking our food a lot recently."

"When do they come?" Wea asked.

"They don't have a schedule." The woman said. "They come whenever. The soldiers have a schedule though, they come every other week. The last time they came was a week and a half ago."

"What about the rest of the planet?"

The woman shrugged. "It's bad but I don't know how bad. We don't get a lot of news and many of us can't leave because we just can't afford it."

"Thank you." Larry said. Ahk nodded his head in thanks.

As the woman left Ahk, Larry, Wea and Attila huddled around each other. Octavius hung back.

"What should we do?" Ahk asked. "Any suggestions."

The others stayed quiet.

"I know you want to leave-" Ahk started.

"No, not leave per se." Larry said.

"More of a tactile retreat." Wea added.

"I don't think we alone can do anything." Attila said.

"I don't feel right leaving." Ahk said. "I've left them once already, I don't want to do it again."

"I don't know what we can do." Larry said. "I'm sorry."

Ahk closed his eyes in defeat. He felt Attila pat him on the back.

"I told you," Octavius said. Ahk opened his eyes and Octavius barged in between Ahk and Attila. "I can help. I have the power and the political alliances."

Ahk watched Octavius. It could work. Ahk could use Octavius, get his political allies and use his Force power. He wouldn't fall to Octavius' offer of the Dark Side. He couldn't fall to the Dark Side. But the more Ahk looked around the town, which was probably what the rest of the planet looked like, Octavius seemed like the best choice.

"What allies do you have?" Ahk asked eventually.

"No, you can't-" Wea and Larry started but Octavius talked over them.

"I am still a general on Prakith, they will aid me if I asked. And I have other connections across the Galaxy which will help me too."

"Are those allies from the Dark Side?" Wea said.

"Do you want to help these people or not?"

"I think that might work." Ahk said quietly.

"No!" The others cried.

"What else would you have me do?" Ahk asked. "I still have a responsibility which I have neglected for too long."

"Excuse me." Came a voice.

They all turned to look at the voice. It was a young girl. She stood there bare-footed

"I've heard that you've been asking about the gangs." She said. She moved forward closer to them. "If you want to help fight them you should come and meet our resistance leader."

"A resistance?" Ahk said, surprised.

The girl nodded. "Follow me." The girl scampered off at that.

"Well that's suspicious." Octavius said.

"I'm going. You all don't have to." Ahk said. "Except for you, General. You're coming with me."

"I'm coming with you." Attila said.

"I don't know what he said but I'm coming with you." Larry said.

"Same." Wea said.

Ahk nodded and followed in the direction of the girl.

She peered around the corner and waved them over. The followed and she led them down a set of stairs and into a basement.

As they entered into the basement there was a group of people huddled around a fire. One of them looked up.

"You're those people who were asking about the gang." They said. "Have you come to help us?"

"I... think so." Larry said.

"We're the Resistance here." They said. "Any aid you can give us will be welcome."

"Do you have any plans so far?" Ahk asked.

"Some, but we need to know what help you can bring. We're not about to just tell you." They said.

"They already messed up with showing us where they were." Attila muttered.

"So, you came here so you must have some sort of plan. Did you get our messages?"

"Messages?" Larry asked.

"We've been sending messages into space." Another said. "Did you not get them?"

"We came here sort of by accident." Larry said.

"Oh." The group said. "So you don't have any plans?"

"We can go and get help from the Jedi." Wea said suddenly.

"The Jedi?" The group broke out into conversation.

"We don't need the Jedi!" Octavius said loudly.

"If you can get the Jedi we need-"

"No, we don't need to ask the Jedi." He repeated. He stepped forward and gestured at himself, Wea and Ahk. "We are Force sensitive. We can help quicker than asking the Jedi for help."

"You're all Force sensitive?" Then one ran forward. "If you are, please help us!" They started for Octavius but Ahk moved in front of the General. They couldn't see his eyes, that would turn them against them instantly.

"We can try." Ahk said.

"What other forces do you have?" Octavius said.

"There are other groups across the town and we are all ready-"

"Numbers. How many forces do you have?" Octavius interrupted.

"Around 650." One said.

"350... How many does the enemy have?"

"Around 800."

Ahk heard Octavius sigh. "I suppose that'll have to do. This won't be easy."

"I need to do this." Ahk said. He turned to the others. "You don't have to be dragged into this."

"We already said, we're coming with you." Wea said.

"But before we start," Larry said. "Can I get some sleep first."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Resistance!


	10. A Violent brawl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having decided to help the people of Azameen, Ahkmenrah and General Octavius come up with a plan to take the first steps to taking back the planet from Kahmunrah’s Dark-Side influence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars: Episode VIII: The Last Jedi encouraged me to deal with my slow and broken everything to get this out. When I saw everything is broken I mean, dude. My main laptop is super fragile and is being held together with sellotape so I don't use it much anymore, my secondary laptop is 6 years old and so so so so so incredibly slow, and my phone has a dodgy screen so when you go on it for so long it starts messing up completely.  
> I mean I've had this written down on paper for a while but, nobody wants to read my terrible handwriting.  
> Anyway, enjoy.

“Okay, we are officially done.” Napoleon said.

 

“Pay us now, please.” Ivan added.

 

“Okay, fine.” Larry said. He waved the trio out of the way and sat at the computers. Soon he had transferred the money over to them. “Right, I’m just going to use your comms.” He span the chair over to the comms. as he was pretty sure Al started screaming. Ignoring them he instead opened a comm. link. “Hey?”

 

There was a moment of silence then, “Yes? Lawrence?”

 

“Hey, Teddy.” Larry said. “How are repairs coming along?”

 

“The repairs are coming along nicely.” Teddy replied. “We’ll be on our way to your position shortly.”

 

“That’s great, Teddy. We might need the Rex pretty soon. We’re on Azameen.” Larry said into the comms. “I’m sending you the co-ordinated now. Get to us as soon as you can.” He sent the co-ordinates and cut the comms. off and turned back to the bounty hunters. “Okay fine, you’ve got your money, you can go now.” He reached over for Octavius’ cloak which Ahk had tossed aside earlier. He shoved it into his jacket then he stood up and walked off their ship. They didn’t stop him and Larry didn’t look back.

 

Larry quickly marched back to the rebel’s hideout. He reached the others quickly enough to see Wea and Attila sat in a corner together talking quietly to each other. Ahk and Octavius were pouring over a map of the town.

 

“The Rex will be on its way soon.” Larry told the room. “Have you got any ideas how we’re going to actually win?

 

“We need to take the space hanger.” Octavius said. He pointed at the map. “If we can take the hanger we’ll have access to their starfighters. That should make it easier for us to take out their base.”

 

“We’ll need you and Jed to lead the fighters force.” Ahk added. “I need to see who else can fly but if it comes down to it, it might only be you two. They have no anti-aircraft guns so it should be easier.”

 

With that Ahk took hold of Octavius’ wrist and dragged him away with him towards the room where the citizens were staying.

 

Wea and Attila appeared by Larry’s side.

 

“What do you think?” Wea asked.

 

 “With us having starfighters we might stand some sort of chance, especially if they don’t have any starfighters.”

 

“What do you think about Ahk,” Wea said, “he very nearly accepted the General’s offer. We can’t let him do that, that, he’ll fall to the dark-side.”

 

“I know, we can’t let Octavius stay around Ahk for too long.” Larry said. Attila grunted something in response. “But right now I am going to go to sleep.” Larry said. “Wake me up when we’re ready to go.” And with that he crashed down on the closest sofa and immediately when to sleep.

 

* * *

 

Larry was woken up later by Jed shaking his shoulder.

 

“Jed? You’ve got the Rex working again?” Larry mumbled, blinking awake.

 

“Yeah, just got here, the Rex is parked in the starport. Wea filled Teddy and me in on what’s happening.” Jed said.

 

“How long have I been asleep?” He asked.

 

Jed shrugged, “how long do you think?”

 

“Probably 10 minutes.” Larry heaved himself up from the sofa and stretched. “Come on, we should see how things are coming along.”

 

They walked over into the room filled with civilians. Ahk bounced over to them. “We have a few pilots so you two won’t be the only ones in a starfighter.”

 

“Oh, that’s great.” Jed deadpanned, which Ahk seemed to ignore.

 

“Ahk, where’s the General?” Larry asked.

 

Ahk waved his arm vaguely over his shoulder. Jed and Larry jerked their heads around Ahk to see Wea, Teddy and Attila glaring Octavius who had pulled the collar of Attila’s coat up to cover part of his face.

 

“We’ve got a fighting chance here; we might actually win and rescue these people. I can fix this. I need to fix this.” Ahk said.

 

“We will, Ahk don’t worry about it.” Jed said.

 

“I can’t fail, I left, I caused this. All this was because of me.”

 

“Ahk, really, don’t worry. This wasn’t because of you. This is because of your brother, Ahk. Not you.” Larry said gently. Jed clapped Ahk on his shoulder and walked past him towards the others.

 

“Seriously, Ahk, this isn’t your fault.” Larry tried again. He then reached into his jacket and pulled out Octavius’ cloack. “Here, give this to the General, he’ll probably get antsy without it.” Ahk smiled feebly and took the cloak. He then turned back to the crowd of civilians.

 

“Okay so we’ve got our plan set. We need to take the hanger; from there we can use the starfighters to have aerial support when we take their base.” Ahk announced. “Me and my...” He paused as he gestured towards Octavius. “... friend, will be prepared to enter the base as soon as the starfighters are in the air. We’ll take out any weapons we can before you can join us.”

 

Octavius stepped forward. “We’ll need a distraction to empty the hanger as much as possible. This should make it easier for us to take it and get into the starfighters.” Octavius clasped his hands behind his back as he continued. “We’ll need some of you and your allies to riot close to the hanger to get them to come out. From there the pilots will enter the hanger, take out anyone remaining in the hanger and take the fighters to the sky. From there we shall launch a ground strike with our aerial support onto their base. Once it is ours we can fortify it to defend ourselves from any counter-attacks they might throw at us. Now pilots, you need to be aware that you might have to engage in combat against forces from the castle, so it is crucial that we end this as quickly as possible.” He finished.

 

“And we have the Force on our side. That must count for something.” A man in the crowd shouted.

 

“We will succeed here.” Ahk said. “I promise you this!”

 

“You all know which roles you’re assigned to. Pilots you need to hang back until the hanger is less occupied. From the sounds of it, these people should be easy to lure out. Signal the others to start the attack.” Octavius added. “Okay, let’s move out.” With that the room started to scramble.

 

“You’ll be Gold Leader.” Jed said to Larry, walking back up to him.

 

“I might be a pilot but I haven’t exactly flown as a military pilot before.”

 

“Okay fine, I’ll be Gold Leader.”

 

“Definitely not. Who’s going to have Dexter?”

 

“Me obviously.” Jed beamed as Dexter rolled over to them upon hearing his name.

 

“Dexter, who do you wanna go with?” Jed asked, his arms outstretched towards the droid.

 

Dexter bleeped and Jed’s arms dropped to his side. He turned to Larry and jabbed a finger at him. “You win this round, Gigantor.”

 

Larry sighed. “Okay, I guess we’d better head off.” Dexter rolled up to Larry’s side. “Pilots!” He shouted louder. He waved and a group wandered over to him and Jed. There wasn’t a lot of them. “We’ll need to wait until the hanger is as empty as possible before going in. We’d best make our way to the stop the General picked out for us. Try to keep as quiet as you can.”

 

“Alright,” Jed hollered. “Does anyone have an astromech I can borrow?”

 

* * *

 

“Teddy, Wea, Attila, will you be alright going with the others to help distract the hanger?” Ahk asked as his eyes traced the lines of the map one final time.

 

“Are you sure you’ll be able to look after the General by yourself?” Wea asked back.

 

Ahk nodded. He glanced over at Octavius who was leaning against the table, watching the pilots as they left the room, with Jed seemingly complaining about droids betraying him. “Don’t worry, just concentrate on your tasks, I’ll concentrate on mine.”

 

As the pilots left the room Octavius wandered back over to the others.

 

“Shouldn’t we split our Force Sensitives up to go in all three groups?” Octavius said suddenly. “I can fly so I should go with the pilots.”

 

“No, you’re not leaving my sight.” Ahk snapped. Octavius sighed but nodded his head.

 

“As you wish.” He said, turning to look back at the map.

 

“Okay, you guys should start to head off now.” Ahk told Teddy, Wea and Attila. “Take the rest of them and make as much noise as you can.”

 

Teddy nodded, his eyes flickering over to Octavius. Attila grumbled something under his breath but nodded as well. Wea stepped forward and jabbed a finger at Octavius. She didn’t say anything but Octavius smiled in the way Ahk had decided meant Octavius was more amused than anything. Wea lowered her hand and turned away. Together Teddy, Wea and Attila rounded up the remaining forces and started to leave the room.

 

“Oh, wait, Attila.” Ahk shouted suddenly. He then moved over to Octavius and pulled the coat off of him, much to Octavius’ displeasure. Ahk threw the coat back to Attila who pulled it on, shouting his thanks. The group then left, leaving only Ahk and Octavius in the room.

 

“Here you might want to put this on instead.” Ahk said to Octavius, holding out the red cloak. Octavius pulled it from his hand and clipped it back on top of his armour.

 

“Any chance I can have my sabre back?” Octavius asked. Ahk didn’t answer, instead he grabbed Octavius’ wrist yanked him forward.

 

“Is that a yes or a no?” Octavius asked.

 

“It’s a maybe.” Ahk answered quietly.

 

* * *

 

The streets outside the hanger was in chaos. Larry was leaning against the window of a broken building, looking out over the distraction.

 

“Come on, come on, come on.” He muttered. Finally, the hanger doors opened and the gang ran out to engage the distraction.

 

“Alright, come on, let’s go.” Larry called back into the building. Jed whooped and ran out, pulling his blaster out of its holster as he did so. The rest of them following.

 

“Come on, Dex.” Larry said. The astromech bleeped and started to roll off before Larry could even take a step.

 

“Hey, wait for me.” Larry shouted. He ran after Dexter, pulling his own blaster out too.

 

The chaos outside seemed even worse now. As the two sides clashed the noise was deafening. Larry and Dexter reached Jed who was peering around a corner onto the hanger bay.

 

“You think it’s clear enough?” Jed asked.

 

“It’s as good as it’s going to get.” Larry said. Dexter beeped.

 

Larry nodded and motioned forward. The group surged forward and across the bay. There weren’t any guards and they reached the hanger with ease. Jed took aim down his blaster but there wasn’t even anybody in the hanger.

 

“Well, our distraction must be working.” Larry said. Jed lowered his blaster with clear disappointment. “Okay everyone, grab a fighter and let’s get them that air support.”

 

The pilots scrambled and Larry ran to the nearest fighter. Dexter beeped under it and was promptly lifted into the back. Larry grabbed the flightsuit hanging off its wing and quickly pulled it on. He clambered up to the cockpit and pulled the helmet on.

 

“Dex, are you good back there?” He asked. Dexter bleeped a positive and Larry started the fighter’s engine. “Is everybody good?” He asked through the comms. He got multiple positive responses. “Okay, let’s take off.” He pushed the fighter forward and it shot out of the hanger doors, the rest of them following.

 

“Keep your focus on their main base and stay sharp for any possibility.” Larry said.

 

“Copy that, Gold Leader.” Came Jed’s voice. The jet’s looped around the town and turned back towards the base.

 

“Prepare attack position.” Larry said.

 

“This is Gold Three,” came another voice. “Confirmed Gold Leader.” There was another sequence of confirmations as the fighters came over the base. Larry couldn’t see much of what was happening on the ground but he hoped that Ahk was doing alright with Octavius.

 

* * *

 

Ahk was doing as well as expected with Octavius. They had barely talked whilst they waited until it was their turn to move and as soon as they saw the fighters in the air they began running towards the gates of the gang’s base. It was then that Octavius started talking. And all he said was how much he wanted his lightsaber back.

 

As they reached the gates of the base Ahk tried to push it open with the Force.

 

“You know it would be much easier to get in using a lightsaber.” Octavius said.

 

“Perhaps you could shut up and help me.” Ahk grunted.

 

“I am; I’m trying to help you by recommending you give me back my lightsaber.”

 

Ahk stumbled back from the door, unable to opening alone. He turned to Octavius and stepped closer towards him. Octavius’ yellow and red eyes still shone with their dark malice and Ahk once again had to force the image of Kah’s same eyes from his head.

 

Without taking his eyes off Octavius, Ahk reached to his belt and pulled the lightsaber from its sheath. He handed it over to Octavius. The General took it and ignited it. Ahk managed to stop himself flinching. The red of the saber reflected deep in Octavius’ eyes. He grinned at Ahk and swung the lightsaber towards the gate. It cut through it easily and Octavius carved out an entrance. He pulled back the saber and punched forward with the Force. The ruined gate shot forward and landed with a loud clunk.

 

Octavius marched though into the base and Ahk followed, raising his blaster. There were guards who jumped back into action once the shock wore off. They opened fire but Octavius deflected the blasts easily. Ahk aimed his own blaster around Octavius and fired. His blasts hit the walls, sending dust high up into the sky.

 

Octavius raised his hand and the guards blasters went flying from their hands. Octavius then broke into a run and leapt into the crowd of guards. Ahk dived behind a broken speeder and started shooting at the guards separate from the crowd Octavius was in. None of his shots hit, but the dust they sent out covered much of the yard. Overhead Ahk could hear the sound of the fighters flying towards them.

 

There was a scream from the guards and Ahk’s head snapped back to the crowd. Octavius was stood over them, with only one still moving. That one was collapsed to the floor, clutching his wrist with his hand unattached to it.

 

Octavius seemed to sense Ahk’s eyes on him as he glanced towards him and kicked the guard to the floor. Octavius then raised his hand towards Ahk. Panic sparked in Ahk for a second before realising that he wasn’t frozen. Turning his head he saw a blast only mere inches from his face, frozen by the Force. It then shot off back in the direction it had come and Ahk ran out from his cover. By the time he’d reached new cover Octavius had already disappeared. Ahk swore.

 

A sudden commotion behind him distracted him and he looked back to see the rest of group entering the base. There was an explosion overhead; the fighters must have reached the base. Ahk saw Teddy and Wea and Attila running through the base but Ahk took his focus off them and onto the gang. He fired wildly a few more times before ducking out from his cover and running further into the base, trying to find Octavius.

 

He suddenly saw a flash of red and span to see Octavius lift a speeder up to stop several of the civilians being hit by a rain of blasts. Suddenly, Ahk knew to duck. A blast went over his head. Several more explosions occurred overhead and Ahk shot a few more blasts. He ran and dived behind some more cover. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Attila being pushed to the side, narrowly missing a blast. Ahk tried to see Octavius but all he saw was a blur of red and gold as the General jumped up to the higher decks of the base. Ahk turned back to firing at the gang members on the upper levels. They ducked away from his blasts and send their own back.

 

There were several more explosions, but to Ahk’s despair, these explosions were much louder.  He could feel the force of them and glanced back to see them on the ground. Ahk couldn’t see where they were coming from. He saw Teddy and Wea fighting further ahead. Then an explosion. No, it wasn’t, not really. The explosion became contained in a bubble, not harming either Teddy or Wea. Ahk saw them leap back and dive for cover and the bubble disappeared and the explosion consumed the area they were just stood.

 

Suddenly Ahk felt a presence behind him; he wheeled around only to find Octavius stood behind him. Somehow his hood was still up.

 

“I’ve found your man.” Octavius said.

 

“Did you just stop that explosion?” Ahk asked, breathless.

 

“Well who else would have?” Octavius shook his head. “I’ve found the gang leader if you want to kill him.”

 

“Kill..? We’re not going to kill him.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Why not... That’s not the Jedi way.”

 

Octavius just rolled his eyes. “Fine. Whatever, do whatever you want.”

 

There was an explosion overhead and the pair looked up to see the starfighters engaging in combat.

 

“Well, the castle has gotten wind of what’s happening.” Octavius muttered. “Come on, we should really finish this as fast as we can, leave the dogfight to the others.”

 

Ahk dragged his eyes from the sky and back onto Octavius. “Take me to him.” Ahk said.

 

* * *

 

“Enemy fighters come in. Engage evasive manoeuvres.” Larry shouted down the comms. He sent his fighter into a nosedive to avoid one of the enemy fighters. Dexter screeched in alarm as shots went over his head. “Its okay, Dex, we’ll be okay.”

 

“We need to keep them engaged for as long as we can.” Larry said. He shot around the base and back into the fray. “Alright, Dex, let’s give them some cover.” Dexter beeped and Larry pulled down his blast shield. Dexter pulled up the targeting screen for him. As a target entered his scope Larry pulled the triggers, not even grazing the enemy wing. Dexter bleeped.

 

“Well I did say I’ve never flown in a military pilot before didn’t I.” Larry muttered in response to Dexter’s bleeping. He spared a quick glance out to the others; he couldn’t fully tell who was who, he just hoped Jed was doing alright. Larry weaved around a fighter and caught sight of another fighter who was struggling to shake off an enemy fighter. Larry pulled up his own fighter and lined up his scope. Pulling the triggers again this time his shots clipped the enemy fighter’s wing enough that it spun and fell out of the sky.

 

“Thanks Gold Leader.” Came a voice he didn’t recognise down the comms.

 

“No problem.” Larry said back. Then he jerked his controls sharply to avoid collision with a pair of starfighters dancing around each other. The enemy fighter shot and the other span, narrowly avoiding being hit. The fighter shot back, hitting the enemy fighter and causing it to topple out the sky. Through the comms. Larry heard Jed whoop as he turned and shot back over the base.

 

Dexter beeped again in alarm and Larry barely got them out of the way of being hit dead-on.

 

“I know, Dex, I know.” Larry shouted back to the panicking astromech. “Come on, Ahk, where are you?”

 

* * *

 

Ahk was clambering up several flights of stairs, Octavius having leapt up them some time ago. Eventually Ahk reached the top floor to see that Octavius had already carved out a path towards the leader of the gang. Who was currently on his knees, hands raised in the air, whilst Octavius’ lightsaber was aimed directly at his head.

 

“Ah, glad you’ve caught up.” Octavius said. “I’d like to introduce you to Yaguri Alfeccat, who also calls himself the Bone King.” Octavius moved his sabre closer to Alfeccat’s face.

 

“Please, I surrender, please, General Octavius, I-“ But Alfeccat stopped when Octavius raised his sabre to strike.

 

“Wait.” Ahk commanded. Octavius stopped, his sabre raised high above his head. “Octavius subdue him.” Octavius’ eyes flashed but he lowered his lightsaber.

 

“As you wish.” Octavius said, his teeth gritted. He deactivated his lightsaber and instead slammed the hilt of the sabre on the side of the man’s head. Alfeccat dropped to the floor, unconscious.

 

“Right, now we need to stop those fighters.” Ahk said as he watched Octavius tie Alfeccat up. Almost on cue several of the fighters soared low overhead, firing repeatedly at each other.

 

“Well I have an idea about that.” Octavius said. He stood back up and pointed at Ahk. “Use the Force. Take them down.”

 

“I can’t use the Force, there’s too many of them.” Ahk argued.

 

“Of course you can, feel out for them, grab them and pull them from the sky.” Octavius had moved closer, stowing his lightsaber away in its sheath, a grin on his face.

 

“I’m not going to kill anyone.” Ahk said, “I made sure of that downstairs-”

 

“Prince Ahkmenrah, you’re in the middle of a battle. You need to do this.” Octavius leant closer. “You can help them, right here and now. I can show you.” Ahk didn’t respond. “The Jedi would, in any way they can.”

 

Ahk’s eyes flicked up to the sky then back to Octavius’ face. Then he sighed. “I can’t, I actually can’t. I can barely move a stationery ship. My friends are up there. Larry and Dexter. Jed as well.” If Octavius had any reaction he hid it very well. “Please, show me.” Ahk said slowly.

 

Octavius stepped back, his grin turning into a full blown smile. “Please, Your Highness, watch this.” And with that Octavius threw his hands up in the air. One of the enemy fighters froze. Then another, then another. Suddenly, one swung around, smashing into the side of another fighter. Both went down as a flaming wreck. The other two fighters started to move rapidly towards the ground, where they collided and exploded with such a bright light Ahk was forced to turn away. Another enemy fighter started to shoot at them, but before Octavius could turn on it, one of theirs fired, hitting the enemy fighter directly in the middle, sending it plummeting to the ground.

 

Octavius slowly lowered his hands. “I think that’s all of them.” He said quietly. Then he turned back to Ahk. “See how easy that is.” He was beaming now.

 

There was sudden footsteps running up the stairs. Teddy, Wea and Attila appeared on the top floor. They took in the chaos around them. Before they could even start Ahk jumped forward.

 

“It’s okay, he hasn’t hurt me. It’s okay.” Ahk said. “He actually saved me instead.”

 

“Same with me.” Attila grunted, sheathing his Ryyk.

 

“He did with us too.” Teddy admitted. He lowered his blaster rifle. Wea crossed her arms but sighed in defeat, nodding too.

 

“Now we need to prepare this town for any counter-attacks which may come our way-” Ahk started. Until Wea walked up to him and tugged him away from the others.

 

“We should take back the General’s lightsaber and leave now to turn him into the Jedi. His helpfulness won’t last for long, then we’ll have more problems to deal with.” She said in a low tone.

 

“I can’t just leave them now.” Ahk shot back.

 

“The longer you stay here the more like your brother will find you.”

 

“Wea is right you know.” Came Octavius’ voice from behind Ahk. Ahk jumped to find Octavius stood behind him. “About your brother finding you, not taking my lightsaber.”

 

“Ahk, you’ve done all you can, we can’t stay here forever.” Teddy said, coming over to them.

 

“This is your brother’s place just as much as yours; he’ll have a stronger connection to here than anywhere else. He will find you.” Wea said.

 

“I need to go discuss this.” Ahk said instead. He pushed past the others and started down the stairs.

 

He reached the ground floor and saw the rest of the citizens gathering around a woman standing on top of a speeder. Ahk walked over to them and heard the woman speaking.

 

“... One step towards winning our planet back. We can leave, get help and come back with a force worthy of this planet.” She stopped as she saw Ahk walk towards them. She lightly jumped off the speeder and meet Ahk half-way.

 

“Thank you for your help.” She said.

 

“It’s my honour.” Ahk said, smiling weakly. “I’m afraid,” he said slowly, “I’m afraid I can’t stay here for much longer.”

 

The woman nodded. “I imagined you’d say that. You should escape; we can take care of ourselves now.”

 

“Hey!” Came a shout from the gate. Ahk turned and saw Jed waving from the gate, his flightsuit half off him. Larry and Dexter came trundling after him, along with the rest of the pilots. From the opposite side of the yard Teddy, Wea and Attila came down the stairs, Octavius following behind them. As soon as he reached the ground Wea grabbed his wrist and tugged him alongside her. Attila was carrying the unconscious body of Alfeccat who he proceeded to toss towards the crowd of angry civilians. The woman raised her hand and the crowd stilled their movements.

 

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Ahk asked again, turning back to the woman.

 

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.” The woman was smiling. “And thank you, Prince Ahkmenrah.” Ahk blinked in surprise.

 

“We knew you’d return to us.”

 

“I didn’t know you recognised me.” Ahk said.

 

The woman just laughed. “Go, we don’t want your brother finding you.”

 

Ahk smiled and shook the woman’s hand. Then he turned and ran back to the others. Larry, Jed and Dexter having met back up to the others.

 

“You should have been up there.” Jed said excitedly. “Those fighters can really move, I nosedived and pulled up like this close from the ground.” Ahk glanced at Octavius who was smiling gently as Jed recounted his starfight. At least, smiling gently until Jed accidentally hit him in the face whilst mimicking an explosion. In an instant Wea snatched Octavius’ lightsaber from its sheath whilst he was distracted. By the time Octavius and Jed had stopped shouting at each other Wea had already moved to the opposite side of the group.

 

Octavius paused and stared at Wea, before feeling at his belt.

 

“Could I please have my lightsaber back.” He asked. “Me and Prince Ahkmenrah have come to an understanding.”

 

“Er, no we haven’t.” Ahk said.

 

“Yes we have, you asked me for my help.”

 

“I said I wouldn’t kill anyone, I asked you to show me, not help me. Or even teach me. I don’t know how you thought that meant we came to an arrangement.”

 

“You tricked me.” Then Octavius’ face broke into one of those smiles. “We are starting to come to an arrangement.”

 

Ahk frowned. “No, we’re not. We’re taking you to the Jedi. Now come on.” At that Ahk grabbed hold of Octavius’ wrist.

 

“You’re not going to put me in the airlock again are you?” Octavius asked as Ahk started to drag him away. The others hurried to catch up.

 

“No, don’t worry, we won’t be doing that.” Larry said. Ahk stopped and turned to face Octavius. In one movement Ahk secured Octavius’ hands in a set of force shackles.

 

“Is this really necessary?” Octavius asked. “I saved you, you can trust me. I would have come with you willingly. At least until we reach the closest civilised planet. No offence Prince Ahkmenrah.”

 

Ahk grunted in response whilst Dexter beeped unhappily.

 

“And we’re willing to have you come with us.” Jed said. “Just wearing them.”

 

“Come on.” Ahk muttered. He tugged at Octavius’ arm, who followed instantly. “Thankfully it’s a short trip to Coruscant. We don’t want to keep the Jedi waiting.”He a

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next one is going to be a different story altogether so keep an eye on my profile, or don't, you make the call.


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